


War of Miracles

by Tan_Legend



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Endgame Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Endgame Lukanette, F/F, F/M, Gen, I hope Adrien gets someone as good as ladybug, It is, M/M, Other, Post-Canon, Psssst, but it's not really important, ok fine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:29:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 38,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25728205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tan_Legend/pseuds/Tan_Legend
Summary: Silence…… cryptic silence, suspicious silence, the quiet before the storm silence.That’s what Hawkmoth and Mayura left when they mysteriously disappeared.With the two villains gone, Paris falls back to it’s mundane ways and all other Miraculous holders retire. But just when Ladybug and Chat Noir adjust to the newfound peace, a storm brews and wrecks the serenity again.With new enemies and obstacles to overcome, the two heroes must call upon old friends to protect their city one more time.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste| Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain Cheng| Ladybug (one sided), Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Chloé Bourgeois/Kagami Tsurugi, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

  
The Justice of the People, Ladybug.

The Knight of the Darkness, Chat Noir.

The Judge of the Souls, Shinryu.

The Bard of Paradox, Viperion.

The Mistress of Time, Bunnyx.

The Sovereign of the Unfortunate, Violet Eclipse.

The Prince of Emotions, Mayur Raja.

The Assassin of Poison, Serket.

The Dawn of Courage, Blanc Soliel.

The Melody of the tides, Xue Nyx.


	2. Chapter 2

**Justice of the people, Ladybug**

Meraki [may-rah-kee] 

(n.) to put something of yourself into your work.

Soul. Creativity. Love

She was a protector, a shield, watching over all her children like a mother, A queen.

A sentinel of peace, standing guard above the horizon. 

**The Knight of Darkness, Chat Noir**

Flaneur [fla-ner]

(n.) A person who strolls a city in order to experience it

Deliberately Aimless

He was a dark sword of vengeance, a young Knight, the right hand to his Lady.

Forever he stood, never wavering in his loving conviction.


	3. Ch 1: Moonlit Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been four years since Hawkmoth and Mayura became inactive and threw in their towels.  
> Ladybug and Chat Noir decide to celebrate their vacation only to be called back in to work again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope we all are ready for this commitment.  
> (Help me I'm scared)

Ch1

  
"So, Bugaboo, do you think we should call the rest of the Miraculous owners to party up here?", Chat said, "It'll be a surprise party for them.

"No, I'm not running errands today. It's our fourth anniversary of Hawkmoth retiring. I'm going to enjoy it!”, Ladybug said childishly. She opened both her arms wide to show just how much she wanted to relax before resting her back against the floor, gazing up at the stars. She huffed when Chat laughed and swung her legs back and forth.

The laugh was familiar. A chanting memory of chases and fights. The wind in her hair and his. The pure adrenaline in their veins turning to the sweat of hard work. The ecstatic smiles and twinkling eyes of success.

The two heroes were currently sitting on the unreachable part of the Eiffel Tower. The midnight moon shone high above them, its white light pure and real. It brought back memories like a train, one compartment of moments after the other. So many happy days, all filled with joy. The moon had been above on many of those nights.

"It's been months since we last met.", Chat Noir trained his eyes on the city of love in front of him. His hair was as blond and ruffled as ever and his green eyes seemed joyful. The leather suit encased a tall man of muscles and strong arms. He hadn't changed much. Maybe happier and more mature, but the easy grace, the charm....it was all still there.

"Yeah...there just isn't a reason to you know...meet anymore... To become Ladybug and Chat Noir. Our enemy is gone, Paris is safe.", Ladybug said, her sad eyes locked on her partner. They were still the same bluebell-blue, with that sharp glint of creativity and teasing goodness. Her hair was now much longer but still tied in its pigtails, the midnight shade even darker. It was almost like the night sky.

"I know, LB. I know.", Chat said and placed his hand over his Lady's. _But I'll never stop chasing after you._

The two sat in comfortable silence, "I just can't believe it. They just disappeared."

"Hmm...", Chat Noir agreed.

"No big battle or boss battle. Heck, not even a reveal.", Ladybug said, "What did I read all those reveal fanfics for?"

"M'Lady, did you just-?", Chat also his eyes wide.

"I know what I said. Talk about it, and I'll make sure you can't ever again.", Ladybug interrupted in a deadpanned voice.

"Okay.", Chat said plainly.

"Good."

"But I'm pretty sure you-", Chat began with a smirk on his face.

"No Chat, no! Bad kitty.", Ladybug said.

The two of them stared at each other, trying their best to hold back their smiles. Both had extremely constipated expressions on their faces. A few seconds ticked by, Ladybug couldn't hold back her laughter. The both of them burst into a fit of giggles.

They laughed together for minutes, or maybe hours. The grains of time were afloat in the wind, slaves to happiness and joy. 

"I wish it could go back to the way it was. Being a hero.....defeating Hawkmoth. The stuffs...", Chat said.

"Yeah.....That would be great.”, there was a sigh and then a pause, “ Not the people's emotions being taken advantage of, but the other things.", Ladybug said. It would. It really would.

The two fell back into comfortable silence, just enjoying the peace. Chat openly turned his gaze to his Lady who was lost in the stars above.

"So...you dating anyone?", Chat asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"No. I tried to date but I couldn't bring myself to forget my first two loves.”, Ladybug said. Other than two guys in her University she hadn't dated anyone. She'd tried dating Luka before university and it hadn't worked out. They'd lasted mere two weeks before finding out that she still couldn't chose between him and Adrien.

Over that, Marinette's duties as Ladybug and the guardian had held her back and made her feel she wasn't good enough for anyone. Luka understood the parts he knew and they broke it off on amiable terms. After that, Marinette just decided to focus on friendship and fashion more. "I'm a single pringle and quiet frankly, I don't want to mingle."

Chat looked at his lady and her glum face with soft eyes. She was almost as quirky as Marinette sometimes.

"I dated someone. Other than the girl four years ago.", Chat said.

"Did she run away from you cause she couldn't stand the smell of fishes?", Ladybug teased and poke his solid leather bound shoulder.

"I do not smell!", Chat said in a haughty voice, his inner model taking offence, "Especially not of fish!"

Ladybug giggled and placed a reassuring hand on her partner's shoulder. "Alright. Alright. You don't smell like fish, Kitty."

"Glad you understand.", Chat sniffed like a princess.

The two heroes burst out laughing again. That's when Ladybug felt a shiver down spine. She looked around but the Eiffel Tower seemed deserted other than the two heroes. But something lurked in the darkness, she was sure.

"Chat, did you feel something?", The twenty year old woman said. Her gaze still trained at the shadows behind them.

"Hmm?", Chat saw his lady's expression and turned to look behind before standing up, brows pinched in concentration. She tried to listen for whatever Chat had heard but couldn't. He had better sight and smell. She had better instincts and creativity.

Chat Noir suddenly extended his baton into the shadows in the framework above them. There was a clank as his weapon connected with the metal.

A feminine laugh came through the darkness, tinkling like bells and feather light. Yet the sinisterly feeling behind it was unmistakable.

Ladybug pulled herself to her feet. Not a second after she got up, a chill ran down her spine again. She pulled Chat toward her and simultaneously turned around and lashed out her yoyo. It hit against something wooden in the darkness and sent it flying back while being wrapped around it. She tugged her yoyo to get back her weapon but found resistance. A second later a snapping sound, much like a fan, was heard and the yoyo returned back into the heroine hands.

Rustling was heard as Chat's opponent joined hers. As one, both of their opponents stepped out into the light of the moon.

The spotted heroine gasped as she looked at the two people in front of her. They were, without a doubt, Miraculous holders.

The boy was not very tall, like a boy on his teens, maybe fifteen? His hair were black and immaculate, interspersed with green-tipped blue feathers. The mask on his face was blue and highlighted his caramel cheekbones. His dress was a tight, long blue coat that was buttoned till his navel and opened after that till his ankles. The ends tapered like feathers, much like Vrishina's costume had been. Tight blue pants connected to his shoes covered his legs. His hands were covered by white gloves that seems to be joined to his coat. His figure was lean and rather feminine. Definitely the peacock miraculous holder.

The girl next to him was rather short and petite, almost like a thirteen year old. Her light brown hair were open and long. Twisted into a tight braid, like Lady Noir's, almost like a stinger. Her mask was delicate and black. She had a full violet body suit that was so dark that it was almost black. Black armour like leather padding covered her shoulders, knees and even formed in spiked around her hips (pointed downwards), two sai blades were hanging from the belt on her waist.

' _The Peacock Miraculous!',_ Ladybug thought.

The two pairs stood in silence, sizing up the other. While the hero duo sported a blank face that was serious, the boy in front of them hid his expression behind his fans whereas the girl gave a smug smile. From the way the four stood, one would assume that they were on amiable terms with each other. But should one look into their eyes, and they'd see the deadly glint in them. The beast like stares. The dangerous peace ready to be broken.

"My....I'd expected more from you....", the girl started and changed her position to one that was more relaxed, sliding her arm around her partners, it made her seem more mature somehow. "And you look different, I hadn't expected that."

"How spiky! You've got Cat-titude.", Chat said with a grin. Ladybug would have face-palmed if not for the female intruder's reaction.

The girl smiled. The amusement lit up her eyes. "Well, seems you don't disappoint _that_ much."

The boy beside her huffed as if to tell her to concentrate. She gave him a grin before turning back to the heroes. "I'm Serket."

' _A Scorpian Miraculous? Where'd she get her hands on that?',_ Both heroes thought.

The boy looked bored, he brushed his hair in annoyance before talking in a surprisingly low voice. "Vrishin Raja."

"We will be kicking your asses to kingdom come tonight.", Serket said for the both of them. "And taking your Miraculouses.", she added as an afterthought.

"Why?", Ladybug asked, making the girl's smile disappeared before returning, but the twinkle in her eyes had been replaced by smouldering anger.

The anger in the young girl's eyes flashed like wildfire before turning to ash and smoke. Like she was a teapot keeping a lid on her temper, not used to letting her anger show. Serket smiled a smiled of cut throats and gaping wounds. It chilled Ladybug to her core.

"We need them.", Serket said roughly and ran forward to attack.

Ladybug met Serket half way. The villainess aimed a roundhouse kick for the heroine which said heroin blocked by bringing up her arms in a cross to take the blow.  
The two sprang apart. Serket skidded back and Ladybug back flipped a few times. Both landed next to their partners, who had yet to make a move.

"I'll take her.", Serket said to the Peacock Miraculous holder, a slight anger in her tone. "You take the Cat."  
All her partner did in return was nod.

"Why don't we take this elsewhere, Ladybug?", the violet and black girl asked bringing out her daggers which looked dangerously sharp. She stepped out and walked a few steps forwards, showing boredom as a semblance to getting her emotion under control.

"My parents have warned me about going anywhere with strangers.", Ladybug replied. Whatever this person wanted was not good. They weren't dealing with an Akuma, someone who only had anger and one objective in their mind, they were dealing with a Miraculous holder. And skilled ones at that.

"How about with your enemy?", Serket said before rushing at the heroine. "Though we don't have to be. All you need to do is give up your Miraculous."

Ladybug dodged the girl by jumping above her and landed behind her, aiming a well thrown kick at her head. "I have been given the duty of protecting this miraculous. And nothing good can come out of these two Miraculouses's ultimate power. Trust me, it's not worth it."

Serket dodged it. "It's worth it!"

The both of them started to throw kicks and punches at each other. Occasionally using their weapons, they got more results and thus switched to fighting via daggers and strings instead of close combat.

Ladybug's yoyo kept slipping of her opponents daggers. She spun a web to stop her opponent but the villain just leapt over it.

' _Well, I guess I met my match.'_ , Ladybug thought as she pulled loose her Miraculous and jumped down the Eiffel Tower, swinging form bar to bar with her yoyo.

Serket didn't hesitate to jump after her.  
  
  


Chat Noir, left alone on the roof with the stranger looked at him with a winning smile, "We don't really have to fight, do we?"

He was rewarded with silence and the motion of his opponent taking position to fight. The Peacock Miraculous holder crossed both his hands and brought his fans at a ninety degree angle to each other and put one leg behind the other.

"Guess that means we have to fight.", Chat said with a sigh before extending his baton and running towards Vrishin.

  
The teenager clicked his tongue and his fan started to glow. He swiftly flicked his fans and the wind whistled sharply.

Chat Noir jumped sideways, his eyes watching razor sharp feathers meant for him pass by. _'Yikes, those looked spiky.'_ , he punned in his mind.

The boy huffed and flicked his wrists again and Chat jumped out of the way. He could hear the 'thunk' of feathers sticking into the metal rods behind him.

' _This kid an Assassin or something?'_ , he thought as he ran parallel to the ground and jumped as another set of feathers made their way to him.

"Say....can't we talk this meowt?", Chat said and dodged a kick form the youngster in front of him and put some space between them. "Don't like puns? Do you think they are a cat-astrophe?"

He used his baton to send the next wave of feathers back at his opponent. The Peacock villain dodged with grace and snapped his fans shut before trying to hit Chat with them.

_'He's good. Easily more skills than me. It's worrying.'_ , Chat thought as he twirled his baton to make a shield against a barrage of sharp feathers. ' _He hasn't even used an amok yet.'_

Dodge right, dodge left, dodge, dodge, dodge. Chat's opponent became even more forceful as the time passed. It's clear that he had the upper hand and was more skilled than the black cat hero. Then again, Chat hadn't fought anyone at this level in years. The only opponent that gave him a run for his money was Kagami and fencing wasn't exactly like fighting super-villains.

Chat breathed in sharply and took a step back to find his balance and that's when gravity worked its charm. The world tilted as he fell of the Eiffel Tower. He'd been so absorbed in defending himself that he forgot to watch his surroundings, a beginner’s mistake. A stupid, idiotic mistake. One he hadn't made in years.

The wind whistled past him with growing ferocity, it seemed as though he would hit the ground. But he still had experience, especially with free falling close or from the Eiffel Tower. He extended his baton and jammed it sideways into the framework of the tower. As his spun around the staff to lower his momentum he made it shorter and jumped into the Eiffel Tower. His opponent, Vrishin was nowhere to be seen.

_'What if he's gone to help his friend in defeating M'lady?",_ Chat thought. Hurriedly he made his way down to the base of the Eiffel tower and found his lady facing off against only one person, Serket.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and that was a good thing. Because, when he breathed in, he smelt his opponent approaching. Chat brought up his baton to deflect the kick his opponent had aimed at him, forearms taking the brunt of the impact.

The two males dropped down beside their respective female partners. As Chat reached the ground, what he saw astounded him. Ladybug was having a hard time holding against her opponent. There were tears in her super suit and she was limping. Worry and anger took over him.

He gave Serket a glare. In reply, she smiled like a lunatic. Chat switched his gaze to Ladybug. The only damage or her face was a shallow slice on her cheek. Other than a limp in her legs and the tears in her suit that bled sparsely, she was fine.

The luck heroine smiled a little as she caught chat's gaze. "How about we switch dance partners, Chat?"

"That's music to my ears.", Chat said before lunging for the Serketn miraculous holder. She laughed and aimed a kick for his ribs that he dodged.

Chat tried to hit her, but she dodged and brought both her daggers down, aimed for his hand. Chat blocked the two blades by bringing up his baton swiftly. The baton, right between the edge of her palms and the base of her blades, stopped her from reaching him. The two stood at an impasse while Ladybug and Vrishin Raja used their creativity to try and outdo each other.

Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around the boy's arms and pulled. The peacock miraculous holder was pulled forward before he stomped his feet on the ground and jerked his hands towards himself. 

The spotted heroine was pulled ahead. She released her opponent and decide to try close combat with him. Vrishin blocked her easily and even managed to aim for her shoulders sometimes. The two danced around each other's before backing away to catch their breaths.

Chat and Serket broke apart as well. As he stood back to back with his lady, his sniffed and looked to his side before stilling. There was one more person here.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

A slow clapping resounded at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. All four supers looked toward the sound of the clapping. A set of eyes widened in glee. One remained passive. Green eyes widened with disbelief whereas sky blue-eyes squinted to see in the darkness.

As a figure stepped into the light almost everyone sucked in a breath.  
"Hello, master.", Serket said with a bubbly voice.

The woman dressed in purple, grey and silver tapped her cane against the ground. She gazed at the two heroes with a weirdly happy smile. It was scary. Like a dog that had finally found its bone. The gleam in her eyes was dangerous and insane. "Serket, darling, what did I tell you about engaging the enemy without me?"

The girl with daggers parted her lips and the words that came out of her mouth left the heroes stunned.  
"Sorry, master Hawkmoth."

* * *


	4. Ch 2: Moonlit Danger

Ch2: Moonlit Danger

Ladybug was shocked. A new Hawkmoth, one with disciples. This night had just gotten a whole lot worse.

The new Hawkmoth was like a female version of the previous one. The only difference was that her hair was pinned up and hidden in a stylish tilted top-hat, while a silver mask covered the upper part of her face.  
She locked her narrowed eyes on the two other villains. "If you had to disobey me, couldn't you at least get good results?"

"Oh, don't worry, we were getting to that. It's no fun if you don't toy with them.", Serket said and twirled the dagger in her right hand. The way she said her words made it seems as though she just called Hawkmoth her master for the sake of it.

The female Hawkmoth's frown was replaced by a grin. Either she didn't sense that her 'student' disrespected her or she didn't mind it. "You've been taught well.", she said in a pleased voice, "But don't drag it out too much, okay? We need those two Miraculouses as quick as possible."

"Yes.", Serket simply said.

"Chat, this is not going good.", Ladybug whispered to her partner, her eyes locked on the Hawkmoth in front of them.

"Escape?", Chat suggested. His hands held his baton parallel to the ground with both hands and sent another wave of dangerously sharp feathers away.

"The only ones in danger are us.", Ladybug eyed the feather that had planted itself next to her foot before looking back up. _And I need to talk to Tikki, stat._

"You can try to escape.", Hawkmoth said and twirled her staff before seating herself down on the rim of a plant pot, the plants's shadow sending her into the darkness again, "But you won't get far~"

There was something in her bragging tone that felt so familiar. But the dratted magic of the miraculous was interfering with her thoughts, automatically persuading her brain to think differently whenever she was nanoseconds away from putting her finger on who the person behind the mask might be.

Serket bounced on the balls of her feet before pouncing on the two heroes. Ladybug took her head on before Chat Noir poked in his baton, causing the villainess to lose her balance and flip away. Then he swivelled and knocked away the razor sharp feathers sent by the silent boy behind them.

For a few seconds, the two had the upper hand, using their years of experience to defeat their new enemy. But something changed, their opponents seemed to lose interest in playing around with them.

Serket's next attack came out a tad bit more forceful. Before she had at least been on equal footing with them but now her moves became almost impossible to keep up with. She was the fast wind, a hurricane. Vrishin started using both his fans at once, not stopping for breaks. In minutes the two heroes had many tears in their suits and their asses had been handed to them.

_'These weapons feel like toys in comparison to theirs.',_ Ladybug thought as Serket managed to slice at her thigh. ' _Well...at least mine does. Must be because it actually is a toy.'_ Ladybug grumbled at her yoyo which, for the first time since she accepted becoming Ladybug, seemed like a toy.

 _'For once, this baton isn't enough to keep both M'lady and I safe. Our fights were never this long, we'd always take breaks while fighting Akumas. We are too unprepared for this!',_ Chat Noir thought. "Bugaboo, we should really retreat. A plans?"

"None yet, Kitty.", The heroine of luck said and gasped as one of Serket's daggers just grazed her cheek. If she hadn't moved her face, her entire cheek would be open.

Shock registered in Ladybug's mind great fierceness, almost turning her numb. Sure, the Akumatized villains had always been dangerous to fight against. But their powers were mostly meant to disable, not hurt. But these villains, they wouldn't hesitate to cut her and Chat Noir apart. Just for the miraculous.

Chat hissed and she glanced back to see him. Her partner had multiple wounds on his arms and legs. All the leather around his left shoulder was torn and blood dripped freely from it, the red liquid glittered in a way his suit never did. When had that happened?

"How much longer?", Hawkmoth said from the sidelines, making the two heroes jump. Barely able to keep up with the two younger villains, they had forgotten that she was still there.

"If you're in such a hurry, you can come in and join the fray.", Serket said before passing Ladybug, aiming at Chat Noir.

_'Are they really even Master and Student? Serket is too mouthy at Hawkmoth.',_ Ladybug thought. Blocking another one of Serket's attacks, she spun out of reach.

She flicked her wrist and sent her yoyo at the young girl, dancing around the villain. Serket stepped ahead, only to find her entire arm covered by Ladybugs yoyo's string. After a few second of struggling she growled and leapt away. The brown haired girl, forced to retreat, interrupted Chat and Vrishin's battle.

Chat Noir sidestepped her attack and hit her in the ribs with his baton. She gasped in a breath but didn't even pause before moving ahead to hit him, her hands finally freed from the yoyo string.

Ladybug sent out her yoyo to tangle around Vrishin Raja but it stopped midway, wrapping itself around something thrown in its path. A cane!

Hawkmoth held her weapon, wrapped by Ladybug's yoyo, and tugged sharply, a smile on her face. Ladybug held her ground.

_'Damn it. We can hardly deal with two.'_ , Ladybug tensed her fingers. Gritting her teeth, she pulled the yoyo towards herself and held back a grin when Hawkmoth gave a squawk of surprise as she was pulled ahead instead. It seemed that the new Butterfly Miraculous wielder was not as good as her younger comrades.

The purple villainess righted herself before moving her cane to untangle it, all the movement did was tangle it up more. The outrage in her eye gave Ladybug a certain satisfaction. That's when something stung her on her lower back. Burning and prickling. The spot was a drop in the ocean that was her body, she was aware of so clearly and at the same time it felt so trivial.

She glanced back to see what it was but couldn't feel anything different.

The retreating figure of Serket, forced by Chat Noir, gave her an idea of what was going on. _'She must have used her power. Something with paralysis? I thought it would be related to poison. I'm afraid of what will happen but there isn't any time to worry.'_

Turning towards holders of the butterfly and Peacock Miraculous, she moved her arm and pushed Hawkmoth into Vrishin using her Yoyo. The two of them tumbled into each other and fell to the ground.

Then she turned to see Chat, wondering whether they should escape, only to suddenly loose her balance and fall.

Chat's cry broke her out of her reverie. She saw her partner's black leather clad body approach her and the snap of her yoyo coming back to its source in her palms. The road felt cold and hard against her cheek.

"Ooooh, nice one!", Hawkmoth said, ecstatically. She had straightened herself and was smiling.

"I deal with poisons, a lot of them.", Serket crowed, a delighted look on her face. She brought up her blades to look at them and inspected them like they were new, "It's really helpful in the moments before cutting your enemies up."

Chat Noir righted himself, propping up Ladybug. Serket slowly moved forward towards the two heroes. Her comrades did the same.

Chat bit back a snarl. It would be hard to escape with his lady draped across his arms like a porcelain doll, but it was his only option. He readied himself to be vaulted into the sky. Just as he pressed his baton to elongate it, Serket threw her dagger. It snagged Chats tail and pinned it to the ground. The hero was pulled down roughly by his own tail. He fell, his lady weighing down on him limply.

"Sorry Chat.", Ladybug muttered, feeling oddly sleepy. Internally she growled at her sloppiness. Being out of shape was no excuse.

"It's okay M'Lady.", Chat said through clenched teeth, trying to keep the dread in his heart out of his voice.

"Trying to escape?", Serket said in a sing song voice and raised her hand to throw her other dagger. She let it fly, the wind whistled.

On instinct, Chat Noir closed his eyes, not wishing to feel its impact.

_Clang!_

He felt another warm body close by and a new scent filled his nose. He peeked through his lashes, tiredly seeing the person in front of him.

A lithe body, wrapped in a skintight golden and yellowish white suit. Platinum hair tumbled down her head like a crown. From under the cascading curls he could see from his position, came the edges of a coat, one that flared out with spikes at the tip.

"Soleil!", hissed Serket.

Chat got up, supporting Ladybug who had her arms around his shoulders. He look over his saviour's shoulder and long wavy hair to see a face of utter loathing on Serket's face. The girl actually seemed frazzled by the newcomer's appearance.

"How are you here?", Serket snarled more than spoke.

Soleil, the newest Miraculous holder, brought up her hands and Chat saw her weapon. Two blades connected by one handle in the centre. She opened her mouth and spoke "Same as you."

There was a small moment of silence as everyone caught their breaths. Ladybug felt her head swim. So many miraculous wielders and apparently, all on different sides.

"Then you need the Ladybug earrings and Cat ring too.", Vrishin spoke up while Serket looked like she was about to burst.

Ladybug looked at the gathered super-people, the silly part of her mind lamented as to how she couldn't enjoy Chat's six pack muscles and strong arms.

The fact that more people were after hers and Chat's Miraculouses was a big blow. If the newcomers were anywhere near as good as Serket and Vrishin, they were screwed.

"Not decided yet, there has to be another way.", Soleil said and shifted her position.

_'That's good.'_ , Ladybug thought to herself, maybe they could help each other.

"A truce.", Vrishin said after jumping to stand next to Serket, leaving Hawkmoth by herself.

"No!", Serket said enraged, "No truce. Not with _her."_

' _Damn it, more people are after the wish granting power of the miraculous. Ladybug and I need to get out of here. The poison has been in her system for at least two minutes, we still don't know the extent of their powers.'_ , Chat thought taking a step back.

"We should listen to them fight.", Ladybug whispered to Chat, her sluggish voice almost straining to be heard.

It would be a good course of action. They needed to know their enemies. Their motives and plans. Their feelings and reasons.  
But her voice sounded so weak... The leather clad hero shook his head. No, they couldn't stay any longer. They needed to get far away and she needed to use her lucky charm and Miraculous Ladybug to heal and fix everything.

Chat shifted her so that he could grip her knees easily. Then with a swift swivel he ran to the side unoccupied by any other miraculous holders.  
Three exclamations rang out behind him. All were pretty crude words.

Chat took three strides before sensing another presence, out of instinct he ducked and at the and at the same time, Ladybug mustered a little strength and lashed out with her yoyo. Her attack was clumsy, but considering she was under the effects of a Miraculous's superpower that meant to poison or paralyse her, she did great. The yoyo stretched till the closest rooftop to their right, where a lone figure stood. It hit the rooftop close to the figure before swiftly returning.

Soleil's voice reached Chat Noir. She was chiding someone in some way, maybe the person far away on the rooftops. A soft 'sorry' was all that came.

The cat hero blinked and glanced behind for a second to see the weapon of the latest intruder. A chain, stuck it the ground by the small thick blade it was connected to. It wouldn't have hit him or his lady, rather it would have stopped them, but it was still a dangerous weapon. His eyes widened before he shook his head and finally extended his baton, dashing into the night.

His feet hit the rooftops with enough strength to jar his teeth. Ladybug muffled a groan and he realised his hold on her was had become uncomfortable. But he couldn't stop to adjust, they didn't have the time or luxury to do so. So he pulled her closer, impossible as it was considering how he held her, and bounded across the rooftops. Ladybug muttered some profanities under her breath and it made Chat glad because he knew she was still fine.

He sensed more than knew that the other holders were behind him. As he panted for breath with every jump, he wondered if he would get away. His opponents weren't akumas, they were others like him and they were as powerful as him, if not more. But then, as though the world had taken pity on the heroes, the clouds blocked out the moon, casting the night in shadows. Chat sent a prayer of thanks to the gods in his head. In the darkness of night he was as good as invisible.

He ran closer to the walls and chimneys, feeling relief as the sounds of his enemies chasing him died down and disappeared. But even then he didn't stop. He kept running, lungs burning and legs smarting, the heavy weight of a silent Ladybug on his shoulders, until he finally came to his previous school. The place where he had studied three years ago was empty, except for one guard.

Sniffing to make sure no one was around, he dropped into the boys locker room, not surprised that its door was open. Nino and the gang had had a few rowdy nights in there, pranking the rest of the class back in the past, the tradition was mostly likely still followed. Gods, he missed those days.

Chat laid down Ladybug on a bench but she tried to get up immediately. He would have made her rest, but the sooner she used her powers the better. He pulled her up by the shoulders, leaning behind her to give relief to her back. He put his hand over hers, keeping her fingers under his. The small yoyo felt oddly huge in her hands as he guided her to tug it off the belt at her waist.

With his help Ladybug flicked her yoyo and recited the words 'lucky charm' in a soft dull voice. It didn't hold her previously happy tone or youthful relief but it did the job. There was a flash of pink light in the dark locker room before a wooden coin with a carved flower dropped in the heroine's hand. It had the iconic red background with black spots.

Ladybug scrutinised it for a few seconds with blinking eyes before flipping it into the air in a rather robotic way. "Miraculous Ladybug."

The lucky charm hit the roof of the room before a million butterflies appeared. Chat sighed in happiness as the stings on his shoulder disappeared. Ladybug breathed out as the tears in her suit repaired themselves. The butterflies disappeared and the two heroes stared at each other for a few seconds, absorbing all the facts of what had happened to them that night.

She massage her shoulders and rotated them, grateful that she was able to move again.

"How long do you have till you detransform?", Chat said and sat down next to Ladybug.

"Half an hour. It would be a quarter and a half but I think the blood and suit tears reduced it.", Ladybug said. It had been a new thing they had discovered by accident. Their affinity for and prolonged use of the miraculous had given them newer traits. Chat would hiss sometimes and Ladybug would become a couch potato in the winters. Their superpowers had new timers and lasted longer than before.

The two heroes had also started to accumulate power themselves and now their superpowers time limit was based on the energy they had in their bodies rather than the amount the miraculous could hold. They also had superior strength and faster healing out of suit.

"Four sorry- five new Miraculous holders. All our enemies.", Ladybug said with a sigh. She leaned her head on Chat's shoulder. The Miraculous Ladybug had healed and fixed but left her fatigued.

"Yeah. Did you see their weapons? We get toys and they get actual weapons? I mean, aren't we supposed to be the badasses?", Chat said.

Ladybug chuckled though she was weak from the ordeal they had just faced, "We are Chat, we are."

"I seriously need to ask Plagg about this.", Chat's voice was quiet.

"And I need to ask Tikki."

"They looks so different form us. We look cartoonish you know? We're older now and we still look cartoonish. It's kinda embarrassing."

"Hey, at least you get to run around in leather. I'm wearing a skin-tight suit like some kind of Spider-Man woman.

"A hot Spider-Man woman."

"Thanks Chaton.", Ladybug told her heart to stop beating like crazy. Told it that he had lost his feelings for her long ago and the words didn't mean anything romantic anymore. They were an old routine from a timetable no longer followed.

"Anytime Bugaboo."

"They have history with each other. Especially Serket and the other one, Soleil.", Ladybug brought her hand to her mouth and stifled a yawn.

"Yeah, and Hawkmoth is not actually a part of their team. Atleast, I don't think she knows the rest as well as Serket and Vrishin know each other."

"What makes you say that?"

"Gut feeling."

"Have the previous Hawkmoth and Mayura been planning this? This silence? To disappear and then send trained soldiers once our guard is down?"

"I don't think so LB.", Chat winced. It was tiring to hide what he knew from Ladybug sometimes, but it couldn't be helped.

"Then what Chat? What is this? How are they so skilled when we've obviously had ours longer? Why do they have weapons instead of toys?", Ladybug looked at her partner with tired eyes, "You've always defended Hawkmoth and Mayura. Why?

"Because I want to believe M'lady. I want to believe there is good in this world. Believe that there's a reason beyond the labels we put." _That my father wasn't a criminal but a heartbroken man that would do anything for the woman he loved. Even destroy the world if necessary. That it was because of love. That I truly got through to him and now we can finally live a happy life._

He got up to look outside. The window showed a full moon. There were so many questions in his head. They contrasted with what he had said. It hurt him that the world wasn't as beautiful as he thought it was. How had the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous come into the hands of these two new holders? They were supposed to be locked away, somewhere they could never be found. Who were the new villains, where did they come from? Why did they want the Ultimate Wish of the Miraculouses?

"They didn't even need their powers to defeat us.", Chat said softly, not really present there.

He turned around to look at his lady. The luck heroine had locked her eyes on him and breathed out. "There are too many enemies, Chat. How will we defeat them?"

She had asked the question but he could already see that the answer was forming in her mind. The moonlight streamed through the window and into her eyes, making her sky blue eyes glitter like crystals.

"Why don't you tell me, M'Lady?", Chat kneeled in front of her, one hand on his propped knee and eyes on her face. The moonlight turned his golden hair to sunlight.

The determination that took over her face was like the sun breaking through the clouds. It made Chat smile.

Ladybug looks into his eyes earnestly, thinking back to the coin her lucky charm had given her. The same design as the one on the spot where she hid the Miracle box, "We give _them_ a few _more_ enemies too."

* * *

**A/N: Yeah...this chapter is 3500 words long, rather than the 3000 I aim for. Sigh...Well, I hope it isn't too long.**

**Reviews fuel my need to post (they fuel any author's need to post), so please review. Constructive criticism is welcome.**

**If you see any grammatical errors please tell me so I can change it!**

**Tan Legend,**

**over and out**


	5. Ch 3 : Cooling Down

Ch3

Adrien Agreste called in sick that Thursday.

He had too much to think about to go to college and though the 'Miraculous Ladybug' had fixed his suit and restored his skin, it hadn't taken away his exhaustion or the fact that he had very little sleep that night.

He tried to rouse Plagg for lunch, both having skipped breakfast in exchange for sleep, but the black little god yawned for more sleep before snuggling into the covers even more. Thus Adrien made his way to the dining room alone.

When the blonde boy sat down next to his father, he was greeted with a smile which quickly turned to a look of worry. "What happened last night? You haven't been this late since......" _Since you told your partner that I had retired._

Chat and Ladybug had talked about giving a few Miraculous holders back their miraculous. To be clear, two holders, maybe three. Of course the two heroes had decided to wait and see how their opponents were and collect information before trying anything. " _We're going to have to see their strengths and weaknesses before giving them any information about us.",_ Ladybug had said.

Deciding to meet later in a masquerade dance club downtown instead of as heroes, the cat and bug had gone their separate ways. Adrien had dragged himself back home at one in the night in his civilian form. No one would have seen him coming but he didn't risk entering his house in his super suit in fear of being cited by his new opponents.

"Something came up. The Peacock and Butterfly Miraculouses have resurfaced.", Adrien began.

Nathalie took in a sharp breath from behind Gabriel, while the man himself closed his eyes. A few days ago a thunderstorm had taken place. It seemed pretty normal at first but then the Agrestes realised that the rain was heavier above their house.

Plagg stated that he felt a tremendous amount of energy coming from the basement where they'd hidden the two miraculous temporarily. Adrien, Nathalie and Gabriel had gone down to investigate and were horrified to find that the Peacock Miraculous was acting strange.

The blue Miraculous were translucent and when the Adrien stretched his hand to touch them, his fingers passed right through. Then it was gone in the blink of an eye. Vanished into thin air, as thoughIt had to just wink out of existence, the slight dip in its pillow case the only sign it had ever been there. All the while the Butterfly Miraculous gleamed in the light innocently.

When the Agrestes had checked the locker again the next day, the butterfly Miraculous had vanished as well. It sent them into panic. If anyone knew their secret then…Adrien wouldn’t be exempted from punishment either.

"How?", Gabriel asked softly, hiding his anxiety.

"We don't know. They just appeared. And there were three new ones."

"Which ones?"

"A Scorpion, and two others. Didn't get to see the others much. No clue what they were."

"What about the Miraculouses you know about?", Nathalie asked.

"The Peacock Miraculous was wielded by a teenager, maybe fifteen? Sixteen? Called himself Vrishin Raja, his dress was a male version of Mayura's. He was very silent and had very good control of his miraculous. Like a pro, even better than Ladybug and I. And his style was totally different from Mayura's. More calm, graceful. Sorry Nathalie.", Adrien looked at the assistant with who shook her head in a way of telling him she didn't mind, "He was way better than you and he could use his fans in different ways. Plus he had two, unlike Mayura who only had one fan. It was like he had mastered it! He could only have had for a few days, how could he be so good at it? He was like a prodigy. Anyways, the feathers from his fans would flip out and hit with great force. I only got hit once, but the effects were horrible. All the skin from my left shoulder was sliced clean off. And he didn't hold back on his attacks."

Gabrile sucked in his breath sharply at the mention of Adrien's shoulder wound. His eyes darted to the exact place before Adrien placed a hand over it, as though inspecting it himself. "Don't worry, M'Lady healed it when she used her 'Miraculous Ladybug'."

Gabriel sat in silence for a second before relenting with a sigh. "The others?"

Adrien told his father all he knew about Serket and that he didn't know anything about the other two. He looked at his father, whose eyes were trained on him. Gabriel's eyes were always a mirror of cold and steel but Adrien had spent enough time with him to notice that they were filled worry. There was a crackle of lightening in his eyes, a show of how upset he was over his son being in danger.

Adrien felt grateful that his father allowed him to be a hero even with the risks it involved. But then, since Hawkmoth had retired there hadn't been any danger. Would his father try to stop him now? It must hurt so much to know your son was fighting and exposed to danger every day. He wondered if his father felt that letting him keep his Miraculous was like sending him to war.

"And the others?", Gabriel said after a moment of silence.

"The new Hawkmoth was a female. I guess in her...early adulthood?I can’t tell really, the Miraculous makes it hard to guess. She didn't do anything, just stood on the side. Oh, Serket addressed her as master sometimes but wasn't exactly a model student."

Gabriel raised his one eyebrow in the universal sign of 'explain what exactly you mean'.

"In the sense…. she wasn't very respectful? The way she called Hawkmoth 'master' was as though it was a game to her. Anyways, I didn't battle against her, but I guess she was the reason Ladybug was distracted enough to get hit by Serket's superpower."

"Ah, I see.", Gabriel said, "Eat your food before it gets cold."

"You don't want to know more?", Adrien asked. His fork was poised to cut into the meat on his plate.

"After you eat.", his father replied.

The two ate in silence. Midway, Nathalie excused herself when she got a call.

"So....when are you going to start dating?", Adrien said with a cheeky smile.

"Don't joke.", Gabriel said with a snort. His slightly playful side showing.

It had taken the two Agrestes a while to get used to each other. Gabriel had turned into a totally different person in the course of three years, and so had his son.

Finally letting go of Emilie had been hard, but Gabriel felt relief when he finally said goodbye. Over the past three years, both men had changed again....... They'd grown. Gabriel had to started to repent by aiding in community service. It would never get close to making up for all the damage he had done. Not only to Paris but also his son.

"I will remain a bachelor forever.", Gabriel said.

"Nope. Nope you won't. I saw that ring, you know?", Adrien said.

His gaze softened and he smiled at his father genuinely, “I’m happy for the two of you.”

Gabriel’s own eyes softens but before he could say anything Nathalie appeared again.

"G and Ns wants to collaborate.", Nathalie said.

"Tell me the details after lunch.", Gabriel took a bite from his fork and nodded at her.

"Yes, sir.", Nathalie said.

“Gabriel.”, Gabriel said in an admonishing tone, reminding her how he wished to be addressed.

“Gabriel.”, Nathalie said with a smile.

As Adrien swallowed his last bite and drank a cup of water his father finally questioned him again.

"What is your course of action going to be?"

"Three new miraculous owners."

"New?", Gabriel asked. Just how many Miraculouses did the miracle box contain?

"I meant, we’ll reinstate previous holders. And uh, about that....", Adrien scratched the nape of his neck. "Whose identities do you remember from the battle of Miracle Queen?"

"I do not remember the Snake, Horse or the Mouse from the past. And I do not know the identities of the new Bee, Mouse or Fox Miraculous. I suppose the Snake and Horse's powers meddled with my brain. The rest I remember."

"Even the Dragon?"

"Even the Dragon."

Adrien sighed. The Horse and Snake. Max was the holder of the Horse Miraculous and he had been great at it. But he had left France three years ago. He still visited from time to time, but he couldn't become a holder again, he was too far away.

Viperion was a bit fuzzy in his memory, because Ladybug had given the miraculous to him in private and he had never out right revealed himself. If he had, Adrien would remember. Of course, Adrien never found out Viperion's identity in the Miracle Queen battle because Ladybug had given it to Chat to fight against Love-eater and hadn't had the opportunity to return it before Master Fu got ambushed. But Adrien knew he felt calm around Viperion. The snake holder was wise and serene, like brother, a guiding light.

As for the Mouse Miraculous, Marinette might be a good option but her powers didn't exactly seem very helpful. Marinette was a great person, an everyday Ladybug, helpful, caring and kind, always willing to lend a hand but she might have too much on her plate, being a fashion designer and helping other people on the spot. One of his greatest friends now, they talked almost every other day via texts and even met every now and then.

"Ryukko's identity, unlike the rest, is only known by you, Ladybug and I. She can still be used again.", Gabriel said as he got up, snapping Adrien back to reality. “She was an exceptional holder. I wasn’t even there in person, but the way she dealt with the akuma gave me enough information about her. She is strong, Adrien. Strong and unique.”

"But I think we need the turtle more. His shield would be necessary.", Adrien said.

"Don't hide behind a shield Adrien, it'll only stop you from reaching your greatest potential. It's good to have a great defence, but just defence will never get you anywhere, it'll keep you in one place."

Adrien looked into his father's eyes. Then he smiled, "Thanks father."

"I'm only telling you what you needed to hear.", Gabriel dismissed his son's words with a wave. "You've always known inside. You wouldn't be who you are now if you didn't."

With that, Gabriel Agreste left to work, Nathalie smiled at him proudly and Adrien sat back happily, grateful for the love he was getting.

**~*~**

"Girl you look like shit."

"How do you know? You can't even see my face.", Marinette's reply came muffled and tired. Her face was currently stuck to the table of a cafe she and Alya frequented. It was their weekly hangout day.

"'Cause I know you girl and you wouldn't have that 'I'm dying please help me' aura around you if you weren't looking like roadkill."

Marinette turned her face so that her one cheek touched the table and the other half of her face could look at Alya. "Thanks Alya.", she tiredly said.

"You're sporting the raccoon look pretty well."

"Thanks Alya."

"You need caffeine? I'm ordering you caffeine.", Alya said as she sat down.

"Thanks Alya."

Alya rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed, "Marinette, can you say anything other than 'thanks Alya'?"

Marinette raised her head and placed it on the table. Looking up, she gazed into her best friend's eyes, debating as to whether she should annoy her or try to be at least a little active.

"Yes.", she groaned and straightened herself.

Alya looked at her friend worriedly, the half Parisian-half Chinese girl's status wasn't exactly unusual, considering she often stayed up late doing her fashion related homework and projects, but today she looked like she was ready to drop dead.

"Seriously girl, tell me."

"Tell you what?", Marinette yawned and pulled out the menu.

"What happened? Fever dreams of Adrien? Fever dreams of Luka? Fever dreams of Adrien _and_ Luka?"

"What?- Alya! I- ugh-Yo-Adri- agh- Luka?", Marinette spluttered and sent Alya a beseeching expression. “I don’t even think of Adrien that way!”

The journalist student laughed, "Such a pity, just when you started talking to him like a normal human being, you went ahead and stopped crushing on him.”

The aspiring Fashion designer glared at her friend, prompting her to apologise,” Sorry, sorry. But girl, you haven’t changed a bit!”

Marinette grumbled and shoved her menu into Alya's hands, hoping the decision making would distract her.

Alya straightened the menu with a smile not falling for the distraction, "Okay, so it wasn't because of fever dreams. Then what made you lose sleep, girl?"

"I just couldn't sleep. I remembered something from way back when. I had a hard time sleeping.", Marinette said.

"Oh, I see. You want to keep this meeting short then?"

"Nah, I'm fine. I'll sleep tonight, don't have any responsibilities.", Marinette said.

The way she said it made Alya wonder if Marinette did something besides Fashion work. Sure, the bluenette helped out in her parents’ bakery and gave a hand to whoever she could, but that couldn't be this exhausting, right?

The two girls ordered their drinks and waited, talking to pass the time. Alya fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, should she tell her girl the news now? Yes, yes she should.

"So, I'm going to be meeting Nino today.", Alya began.

"And?", Marinette prompted. She knew that wasn't all that Alya wanted to say. Alya always had a reason.

"I'm going to ask if he wants to move in together.", Alya said, a light blush on her face.  
Alya was strong and confident and never hesitated to do something she wanted, but even she knew how big a leap it was to move in with someone.

Marinette jumped from her seat and pulled her friend in for a hug. "Such a big step! I'm so happy for you."

Alya hugged her friend back, "Yeah well, I'm not sure whether he'll say yes."

"Alya you guys have been together for two years, I doubt he'll say no." _But this means I can't give you back your Miraculous or Nino._

 _"_ Well, after that happens I'm helping you get a man.", Alya said.

Marinette sighed and looked away. Luka would be leaving in a year’s time. He'd taken law and would be going out to further his studies before coming back to France.

"Oh yeah! Luka's going to leave, you haven’t talked to him in months. And Adrien dumped you in the friendzone years ago.", Alya continued.

"Don't remind me. At this point I'm going to stay single forever." _Not that I mind, boys are too much. And now there are new villains. I already have too much to deal with._

"I guess you need to make up your mind already."

‘ _But you don’t know that I have switched targets from Adrien to Chat Noir now. I wish I could tell you._ ’, Marinette thought.

"Yeah…I know.", Marintte said.

The two girls then moved their topics to their friends. Once they were done eating they went to the Seine and sat down on at its edge. While chatting, the two didn't realise how much time had passed. Then Alya suddenly jerked as though she had remembered her important mission for that day. She pulled out her phone and glanced at the time.

"Ah, okay girl. I need to go now so that I can meet Nino at his place. You'll be okay going home alone right?"

"Yeah. Wish you the best.", Marinette waved her friend goodbye.

When Alya's figure was less than a speck in the distance, the heroine started to walk home. She took the long root, enjoying the peace.

As the lamps started to dimly glowed and the sky turned from blue to pink, Marinette slowed down and stopped. Her eyes glanced to the river which was slowly losing its sparkle. It's blue was familiar, a colour she'd seen for a long time.

Not looking ahead, the bluenette started to walk, eyes still trained to the river beside her which is why when she turned to meet the person in front of her, she was caught by surprise.

Familiar blue eyes, almost crystalline calm waters. Coal black hair, now without the blue tips he had kept as a teen. In the soft glow of the lamps it looked like the sea at night when the shy moon shines on it.  
Broad shoulders that held a teenage-like softness even after maturing to adulthood. Lean muscles and slightly sinewy arms.

Marinette's heart skipped a beat, like it always did when she saw him.  
If Adrien was her first crush and Chat Noir her first longing then Luka was her first warmth.

"Hey ma-ma-Marinette.", his cool voice was a breeze.

"Hey, Luka."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote chapter five instead of four. God darn it!
> 
> Also, I haven't forgiven Gabriel for his crimes, but I have given him the chance to redeem himself (it was for the sake of love and not affecting me so I'm pretty chill about). Let's hope he becomes a better dad.
> 
> Tan Legend,  
> over and out~


	6. Ch 4: Choosing your allies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new guardian and Cat meet in disguise to discuss who their new allies shall be.
> 
> They mostly talk and I set some grounds on who can get miraculous. Cheers!

Ch4

Adrien Agreste pulled on a mask and stepped into the club, Night Ardour. He wore a black mask with red designs on the right side, the one he always wore when entering the club with the personality of Chat Noir.

He’d worn his usual clothes when coming here for superhero business: black jeans with Hawaiian shirt (like master Fu’s) over a black turtleneck. It was a running gag between him and Ladybug. His blond hair was threaded with black and red ribbons as usual. Even with the weird Hawaiian shirt, his presence still called to people, turning heads his way. Subconsciously, his aura was like a panther: wild and teasing.

Not wasting any time, he quickly made his way to the second floor, brushing off a woman drunk enough to look past the hilarious shirt and got pulled by his seductive black aura.

As soon as he reached upstairs Adrien was hit by the smell of alcohol and sweat. With his heightened senses the annoying smells hit him with even more ferocity than the average person. It took everything in his will power to not scrunch up his face.

He twisted past the scattered bodies that floated around on drunkenness and cold like rose petals and made his way to the bar. The lights darted around people and littered the dance floor until making its way to the crowded bar, Adrien followed it.

He stopped at the bar and sat down next to a familiar figure and playfully offered, “A Strawberry Sunset for Milady?”

“I’d rather have a Blueberry Twilight.”, the woman said.

“You teetotaller.”, Adrien said, slamming his Chat Noir persona on.

“Careful Kitty, this teetotaller could dunk you under the table with ease.”, Ladybug said.

Chat Noir chuckled and brought Ladybug’s hand to the place on his mask where his lips would be. Once he was done she raised her hand and flicked his mask-covered forehead.

Ladybug felt grateful for the mask on her face, it hid her lush well and made it easier to keep her act together.

“The usual room?”, he asked to which she nodded.

The two stood up and made their way to the private rooms on the upper floor.

**~*~**

Once their room was secured their Kwami’s came out to meet each other.

“Hey Sugarcube.”, Plagg said sitting down on the huge table.

“Plagg, how many times have I told you to not call me that?”, Tikki said with a playful huff.

“Okay, enough flirting. We have something important things to talk about.”, Ladybug said and placed her bag on the table.

“First things first, how did these people come across their Miraculouses?”, Tikki said and sat down on the table.

“We already discussed this. Hawkmoth and Mayura could have given them away or they could have lost them.”, Chat Noir said. Technically he was not lying as they were talking about hypothetical situations.

Chat Noir was never planning to tell Ladybug who the previous wielders of the peacock and butterfly Miraculous were. It was a secret he planned to take to the grave. It would be better to bury this fact than to let it out.

A small part of him did feel guilty for his deception, but he soothed himself by saying it was for the good of everyone. It wouldn’t hurt anyone to be left unknowing regarding the truth of Paris’s ex-villains.

“But why? We had three years of peace. Why are they suddenly awakening _now_. And it couldn’t be like they were planning this, we would’ve sensed the activation of the miraculous wherever on Earth they were. Not to mention, the new Hawkmoth was super weak especially in comparison to the two others.”, Ladybug said.

“Really?”, Chat asked happy to change the topic, “I thought she was as powerful as them. You got hit by Serket because of her.”

“She’s actually not as skilled as the other two. She could even be weaker than us. It surprised me so much that I got over confident and distracted. She was almost…clumsy?”

“Getting distracted? That doesn’t seem like you.”, Chat said in contemplative tone before switching to teasing, “Was it cause you haven’t seen me in a fight in so long?”

“Keep dreaming kitty.”, Ladybug said placing her hand on her hips.

“Oh he does.”, Plagg interjected with a snicker.

“Plagg!”, Chat said and flailed his arms about in exaggeration, “How could you betray me like this?”

“Never trust Plagg.”, Tikki said with as serious expression on her face. It was so uncharacteristic of her that its icy severity sent chills down both wielder’s spines. After a second she flashed a smile of sunshine as if she hadn’t just plunged into the dark side for a second. “He will promise not to eat the last toffee and then gobble it the moment you blink.”

“B-but in all ser- uh- seriousness, the new Hawkmoth really was weak. I could almost sense how new it was to her.”, Ladybug said after taking a second to collect herself.  
  


“She could be a they too you know?”, Chat said, “Any of them could.”

“It just isn’t topic that needs to be discussed yet. Figuring out their objectives and who we want as our new allies matters more.”

“Yeah.”, the black-cat hero said. “I was thinking of giving Kagami Tsurugi a miraculous.”

“Why?”, there wasn’t any resistance against his decision in Ladybug’s voice. She was like an examiner, waiting for justification to his answer.

“She’s calm, level headed and aced using the Dragon Miraculous which is one of the five most burdensome of all Miraculous in our miracle box. I’m sure she would do amazing with any Miraculous given to her.”, he responded.

“Those are all true points. But you know we can’t give her back the dragon miraculous, her cover has already been blown.”

“The previous Hawkmoth knew, not this one. But we could give her another Miraculous.”

“First of all, the previous Hawkmoth could be in cahoots with the new one. And second, you do know a wielder should have at least a little affinity to a certain miraculous right? If the level of affinity between a wielder and Miraculous isn’t enough… well you can guess what a disaster it would be.”, Ladybug said. She turned to the table and opened the bag she had kept by her side before pulling out mini Miraculous boxes, “She had an amazing affinity for the Dragon Miraculous, almost like she was born to wield it. It’s one of the reasons she did so well. Now, take a few Miraculouses. We’re going to need their opinion as well.”

They both put on the Miraculouses, releasing all available kwami. Bright lights exploded in the room like new stars coming to life. Every colour was a blinding shade of souls.

“Ohhhh! Finally!”

“About time. I was getting bored in there.”

“Tikki, greetings.”

“Ay, Plagg. Ya’ never visit these days ya’ rascal.”

“It’s party time.”

“Salutationssss, comradesss.”

“Is it Karaoke night already?”

“Karaoke night? You guys have Karaoke night without me?”, Chat Noir said and brought his hand to his heart in mock sadness.

“Yeah, and they’re much better that way.”, Ladybug crossed her arms.

“How you wound me, M’Lady.”

“I’m sure you’ll heal.”

“Stop flirting!”, Trixx butt in, chuckling as the responsible and strict persona Ladybug donned in front of Chat Noir broke when she grew tongue tied. Plagg’s chosen just laughed and teased the woman further.

It prompted a childish stomp and shaking fist from the bug heroine who gave up on trying to clarify the situation when Chat Noir burst out laughing, prompting the rest of the Kwami’s to erupt in a chorus of giggles.

Chat Noir smiled underneath his mask like a crazed man. Her flustered side was as cute as ever.

“Urgh, I really have to go in half an hour and we need to decide everything before then, Okay?”, She paused for Chat’s response. The black-cat hero nodded and she continued, “So, pay attention. We need to decide our allies.”

“I was thinking of reinstating Viperion and teaching Alix Kubdel how to activate her Miraculous. Either that or do you want to reinstate temporarily holders of the Fox or Bee Miraculous?”

“ Their temporary holders are not in Paris anymore and we wouldn’t be able to use the Rabbit Miraculous on day to day basis. We’ll teach Alix Kubdel anyways, but only as an emergency precaution. Still, I fear that even with two time based miraculous we won’t be enough. We have five opponents Chaton. One was super weak, but two of them were good enough to kick our asses and we don’t know anything about the two others. Almost all temporary wielder whose identity was not revealed left Paris. It’s a miracle that so many had an affinity for the Miraculouses in our box.”

“What about Multimouse? You trusted her a lot back then.”, Chat thought back to when their Kwami’s had been captured by a villain, “And the horse Miraculous wielder, what about him?”

“Multimouse wouldn’t be helpful. As for Pegasus, he’s left Paris.”

Chat looked at the Kwami that floated around quietly, “What about you guys? Do you feel any affinity for anyone particularly?”

“I feel a weak affinity for someone. I wouldn’t even have noticed if they hadn’t brushed against the guardian while she came.”, the Pig Kwami said.

“Yes, it felt very weak.”, Ladybug said.

Chat looked at his Lady in astonishment, “You can feel it too? Can I as well?”

“I don’t know. It’s a guardian thing and I can’t sense it completely on my own. I have to be holding the Miraculous or carrying it on my person to feel if the person I touched has an affinity for the miraculous son hand. For the first year I only was a medium, the Kwami could sense it through me but I wouldn’t notice a thing. The ability is quiet new.”, Ladybug said and fiddled with the hem of her skirt.

“I see…..Well, has M’lady been touching any people to see if they have an affinity for any of your pretty jewels?”

“No, Chat! I didn’t go around touching people just like that.”, Ladybug said, growing flustered as her mind roamed to the thoughts of her touching Chat’s bare chest. It had to be muscled as heck under all that tight leather, she’d definitely seen abs under those.

“I fear for my virtues now.”, He dramatically brought his hands to his face.

“I’m not some kind of pervert, quit it!”

“Noooooo. Someone, please save me!”

“Arghhh, Chat!”

Ladybug punched the blonde man and he whimpered and sat down without a complaint.

The Kwamis giggled and flew around before being dragged back by Tikki and Sass.

“Okay, okay I’ll get serious now.”

“You change the topic way too often.”

“Hah, don’t be that way.”

“Didn’t you say you’d behave?”

“Right, right. Sorry Bugaboo.”, Chat scratched the nape of his neck before folding his arms and sitting stoically. At least, as stoically as he could.

“Maybe, we should give the Dragon Miraculous to Kagami.”, Ladybug said.

“What?”

“Of all Miraculous we need the flexibility and vast options of the Dragon Miraculous. Plus, Kagami is basically a prodigy in terms of the Dragon Miraculous. And anyways, according to Tikki, we can get upgrades to our suits. If we give Tsurugi an upgraded suit and ask her to change her name she’ll basically be a new hero and the previous Hawkmoth wouldn’t know.”

“Uprades?”

“We’ve been trying to translate the Book of Miraculous (that you somehow found) as of late. How did you get it anyway?”, Ladybug looked Chat in the eye.

The earth and sky clashed as they stared. Both pairs of eyes were so familiar, yet neither could remember where they had seen them.

Chat wished he could tame his heartbeat. Was it beating that hard because he was looking into the eyes of the love of his life or because she was suspicious of him?

“I have my ways.”, he said with finality, hoping his voice sounded as strong as his determination to keep his father’s secret.

They stared for a moment longer.

“Okay.”, Ladybug said and Chat knew that she wasn’t as convinced as he hoped. But the slight waver on her voice told him she trusted him enough to back down. She turned and looked at her Kwami. “Tikki tell us now that the both of us here.”

“Upgrades are hardly ever used as they are only needed in very dire cases.”, The sweet and caring bug Kwami didn’t let the awkwardness around them increase by shifting their focus.

“Hawkmoth wasn’t a dire case?”

“He was more like child’s play in comparison to what the previous Miraculous holders have had to face.”, Plagg butted in.

Sass rolled his eyes and Trixx turned his eyes away at his lack of tact while Tikki smacked the cat. He yeowched and made space between them.

“But, you both were considered much younger by society’s standards and less exposed than the others were so your achievements are not something to scoff at.”, Tikki sent a glare at the greedy Kwami, zipping around so that the two heroes would waste their attention on her.

“The other Miraculous holders, the ones we fought yesterday had upgraded versions. To upgrade like them, we are going need some things.”

“Moonshewd, Rootlevama, A tear of laughter, blah blah blah, blah blah blah”, Plagg said.

“You recite them as though you’ve done these upgrades before.”, Ladybug said.

“Oh we have, especially in the Feila Corma war.”, Plagg waved his hand dismissively as Tikki stiffened.

“The what?”, Chat asked.

“Exactly.”, Plagg said.

“He destroyed an entire historic event by over powering his chosen due to the upgrade.”, Longg rubbed his temple.

“Such brashness.”, Kalki flicked her hair.

“Well, uh, if it’s an upgrade, shouldn’t it stay forever?”, Marinette asked.

“Upgrade isn’t the right term for it.”, Tikki said.

“Is it like a power-up then?”, Chat stroked his chin.

“No, power-upsss are limited to one transsformation and are lossst after de-transsforming.”, Sass said.

“Instead of upgrades, let’s call them metamorphosis.”, Tikki said.

“Nah, the word’s too big.”,Plagg said, “Just call it an upgrade. Anyways, the upgrade is limited to the user. Once you pass on the Miraculous to the next person the ‘upgrade’ is lost and it reverts to its child-friendly state.”, Plagg made air quotes when he said the word upgrade.

“Plagg is right.”, Tikki said, “Making this upgrade potion is a priority. We’re going to have to find the ingredients. The common ones are already stocked, but the rare ones are going to be hard to find. We’ll have to find the rest in totally other countries.”

“How will we do that, it’s not like we have superhero funds to travel around.”, Chat Noir brushed his hair back with a hand.

“Why need funds when you have magic? Kalki, would you help us?”, Ladybug turned to the Kwami that granted teleportation powers.

“Of course.”, the Horse Kwami replied.

“Where all do we need to go?”, The Blonde haired man said.

“Three places.”, Longg said.

“Three places, till now. We’ll find more as we translate the Book better.”, Tikki said

“Which three?”, Chat Noir tapped his foot gently.

“Peru, India and Indonesia.”, Wayzz responded.

“Are you going to get ingredients from all of them?”, The man turned to Ladybug. “I want to help.”

‘ _Father has a trip planned for India, I could ask him to acquire the ingredients’, he thought_

“Then…..”

“I’ll take the India one.”

“I’m grateful, Kitty.”, Ladybug said and sat down.

“I’ll go and ask Kagami if she wants to take the responsibility again. You go tell Viperion?”

“Yep.”

“So, who’s going to teach Alix Kubdel how to wield her Miraculous?”

“Do you want to do it?”, Ladybug asked her partner.

“How ‘bout we both teach her, Milady.”

“It’s a date then.”, Ladybug responded.

It didn’t even take a second for everyone to freeze and look at the Heroine. Chat Noir felt his temperature rise and was ever grateful for his mask. Sometimes his lady really took him by surprise.

Ladybug on the other hand nervously brought up her hand to cover her mouth only to realise her face wasn’t visible. She raised her hand and brought it to her hair and attempted to smoothen it to hide her embarrassing mistake but Chat Noir caught on before she could hide it and smirked.

“A date, huh?”, he leant forward.

All the Kwami’s stood on attention, watching the scene with great interest, one could see them passing on the imaginary pop-corn. Tikki stood in rapt attention watching the scene with most interest.

Ladybug thanked the gods for her mask for the hundredth time that day. Since her feelings for Chat Noir had awoken she’d only ever met him in the dark of the night, hiding her blushes from him. If she hadn’t had her full face mask, anyone would’ve seen her blush clear as day. But she steeled herself and said, “Yep, a date. Between you, me and Alix.”

It immediately changed the atmosphere. The bubble popped and its happiness spilled out, dissipating but still remaining. Chat Noir leant back and folded his arms. He pursed his lips for a split second before taking it in stride, “You won’t get jealous right, M’lady?”

“Shouldn’t _I_ be the asking _you_ that, Chaton?”, Ladybug smirked behind her mask.

“Jealous? Me? Never!”, Chat Noir flailed his arms dramatically.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Then, I guess I should head out first.”, Ladybug said and started to remove and put away the Miraculouses on her. Chat Noir took off and returned the extra Miraculouses as well.

“Okay, but when do we meet up with Alix?”, Chat placed the snake Miraculouses in his partner’s palm.

“How about…….the coming Friday? And do you want the Horse Miraculous first? We can talk using the Miraculous about returning it and stuff.”

“Yeah and I’ll take it first. Remind me what I have to buy?”

“Flourentleaves, Ploomblooms-”

Plagg and Tikki drowned out the two heroes as they whispered amongst each other.

“You noticed something, right? About the two other miraculous owners, the last two ones to arrive?”

“You mean how their underlying auras were similar to Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s?”

“Yeah. It was strange. The scorpion Miraculous holder’s was familiar too, like I’ve felt it before. Gah! I can’t reme-“

“And- Moonshewd.”, Ladybug told Chat Noir before handing him the Horse Miraculous.

“Okay, and I’ll leave this-”, Chat Noir brandished the and turned the Horse Miraculous, “-beneath tile B12 in the room of Apartment #121 in West Havelit street.”

“It’ll be the last time we use it.”, Ladybug looked grave beneath her mask.

“Why?”, Chat Noir asked, flabbergasted.

“It’s not secure enough to be used more than once now that we have enemies again.”

Apartment #121 was simple one bedroom apartment Chat Noir had bought in the old run down street in the back alleys of the city. It was cheap and had been bought at a low price because it was supposedly haunted. Of course Gabriel had footed the bill, his only request being to take care and remain vigilant.

The apartment was rundown and old, but other than that, it didn’t have any weaknesses.

“Good point.”, Chat said.

“Then..”, Ladybug rubbed the tip of her flats against the floor, “Bye.”

“Bye.”, Chat Noir said.

“Tikki, let’s go.”, Ladybug turned to her Kwami. Tikki nodded and waved her goodbyes to both the males in the room.

“Bye, Sugarcube.”, Plagg said as Ladybug let the door behind her swing shut.

“I miss her already.”, Chat Noir sighed as the two of them refused to let the silence takeover. The room felt darker now, like the colour of his suit. The life and brightness that came with the holder of the Creation Miraculous dulled and disappeared as she left. Leaving the room in the dullness of coming destruction.

Chat Noir leant against the bar on his left, only to hear it creak before breaking. He stumbled and bumped against the wall and then straightened himself.

“Plagg, will my bad luck get worse with the upgrade?”

Plagg sheepishly looked away, trying his hardest to not catch eyes with his charge, “Who knows?”

“Plaaaaaaaag!”

* * *

**Tan Legend,**

**over and out~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's pretty ridiculous how just anyone can get a miraculous, set some rules lady!  
> You cant just give anyone a miraculous! That's just dumb.


	7. Ch 5: Kagami Tsurugi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami longs for something. Might as well be a miraculous.

Ch5

Kagami Tsurugi was bored.

There was something missing, maybe it was the long sought feeling of being powerful again. Of having a bigger part in this world.

The Japanese girl sighed and took off her face guard before taking deep breaths.

“Nice work today, Tsurugi!”, Adrien popped up next to her.

Kagami didn’t even flinch. She took in her best friend’s appearance. He’d changed out of his fencing gear quiet fast, his hair still wet. Being the face of the Gabriel brand he was always dressed impeccably. As a teen he’d gone for some pretty casual wear, but as an adult his look had become more refined.

His hair were longer than before and he looked wholly the same, except he had developed a resting smirk face. It went along well with his gentlemanly aura, giving his mechanically cut personality a little wilder aura. It made him a little less approachable, but given how women fawned over him now, it didn’t seem like much of a problem.

He now wore a teal shirt with beige casual blazer and white trousers with black and white converse. The new shoes were definitely better than the orange converse from before. 

“Agreste, this is the girl’s locker room.”, Kagami crossed her arms. She’d taken to calling him ‘Agreste’ and he’d taken to calling her ‘Tsurugi’ after they had broken up. The new name, in a way, had helped the awkwardness go away quicker.

“I am a girl. I’m Sailor Moon!”, Adrien said and posed in the magical girl’s famous pose.

Kagami smiled and punched him playfully, “Get rid of that stubble and maybe I’ll believe you.”

“What stubble? Father wouldn’t let me grow even a hair out of place!”

“True…”, Kagami said and the two chuckled.

“Well, I was wondering if you were free today….?”, Adrien stretched his sentence into a question.

“I’m sorry Adrien, I’m not. The only time I shall have to myself is tonight after dinner, but I wish to spend the night alone.”

“Alone with Chloe?”, Adrien wiggled his eyebrows.

“We aren’t in whatever relationship you think we are in, Agreste.”, Kagami raised her eyebrows, “But to answer your question, no, not with Chloe. Just by myself.”

“Ah…..I see.”

The two fell into silence. Not the awkward kind, but not happy either. It felt contemplative.

Kagami thought of her boredom. Being the heiress of any inheritance (from titles to businesses) was always a burden and left little room for self-doubt. Fencing wasn’t the same to her as it had been when she had been and adolescent. Would Adrien understand what she felt?

“Do you…?”, Kagami stopped and took in a breath, “Do you ever feel like you want something more in life? Like there’s a piece of you missing and you cannot acquire it not matter what you do?”

“Sometimes yes, but then I see the people I love, the people I care about, friends and family. And that’s all I need, really. But if it’s you, then Kagami, you will achieve whatever you want. You are strong and you never hesitate, I envy those parts of you sometimes.”

Kagami looked into Adrien’s warm green eyes. They were like sunlight, _he_ was like sunlight, gentle and comforting. There was that soft smile on his face, the one he’d learnt to make when he wasn’t modelling. The one smile she loved so much.

This was Adrien Agreste. One of her first friends, her first crush and now one of her staunchest supporters along with Marinette and Chloe. The sunshine boy she had wished to stand beside.

“Thanks Adrien. Now leave before I make you. I have to change, mother is still waiting for me.”, she turned him and pushed him towards the door.

He laughed before pulling open the door himself.

“See you tomorrow then.”, he waved and left.

Kagami smiled before and waved at the figure already gone. She changed her clothes and checked if she had packed everything before exiting the locker room.

She wore a casual black turtleneck tucked into a high waisted plaid skirt and ankle-length black boots, curtesy of a Marinette that couldn’t have a fashion disaster as a friend. Over the years, Kagami herself had soaked in fashion advice and tips, worldly knowledge and emotions expression from Chloe and Marinette. Both girls had taken over her wardrobe and slowly ingrained does and don’ts into her. Kagami as a teenager hadn’t been tasteless in fashion sense, but in her opinion, first impression were very important and this, her sense in fashion had come out as formal and strong. Her friends had helped her tone down the sharpness and helped her develop a softer look. This look wasn’t just outwardly but also inwardly. The Kagami of now was very different and much gentler than the Kagami in her teens.

She walked along the border of the training field and made her way to the front doors. A few younger students called out to her to say their farewells when she touched the door handles. Very few students practiced as much as she and Adrien did so the number of students on the field were little. She smiled and turned back to wave good bye to her acquaintances and then walked through the double doors of the fencing academy.

Tomoe’s red car stood out next to the few white and silver cars parked closed to it. Kagami opened the back door and entered wishing her mother.

*“Konbanwa.”, the twenty year old woman said.

“Konbanwa.”, her mother greeted in return.

“How is grandfather?”, Kagami asked in Japanese. After she had come out as queer, her grandfather refused to talk to her. It was weird. He was thousands of miles away from his granddaughter and didn’t even bother to talk to her anymore. Her mother on the other hand was fully supportive. _“I was like that too once, chasing after both.”,_ Tomoe had told her daughter when she confessed. _“It would be best to not tell your grandfather, his flexibility is more lacking than mine.”_

Of course her grandfather had still found out, as he would eventually. And thus a gap had appeared in their relationship.

“Same old.”, her mother answered as the car started and they left, “He’s a stubborn old mule that is too immersed in the ways his forefathers did things. He doesn’t understand that it’s not just a phase or a lifestyle choice or that it’s not something curable as it isn’t a disease.”, she laughed dryly, “I can’t blame him either. I too am bound to the old ways. But between losing you and keeping the traditions that would not help in these modern times it was quite easy to choose a side. And you make me proud in so many ways. How could I find fault in you for who you love when I am the same?”

“Thank you mother.”, Kagami smiled.

“I just wish you’d chose a more suitable partner.”, Tomoe said, obviously talking about a certain someone.

Kagami crossed her arms, annoyed that another person had brought up Chloe as her love interest again, “We aren’t like that mother. Why does everyone see something that I don’t?”

“Maybe you haven’t noticed then.”, Tomoe said and looked out of the window, having spoken enough for the day.

“Noticed what, mother?”, Kagami asked gazing at her mother intently.

When Tomoe refused to answer, instead opting to let the two of them ride in silence Kagami was forced to contemplate her words in the quiet.

As their car pulled up to their driveway, Tomoe told Kagami what was expected of her for the rest for the day. “Go to your room and rest, meditation and homework is a must in the next two hours. You shall be called down for dinner in time.”

Kagami held back a sigh and nodded. Her mother was alright with her sexuality and over the years had become lenient in some areas, but still maintained strictness in most cases. Discipline was a big thing in their family and Kagami understood how important a role it played in her life. It was discipline that brought her to where she was, it was discipline that sharpened her senses more than most, it was discipline that made sure she never hesitated. But it was also discipline that made her rigid to the point of stupidity, it was discipline that tended to make her hard-headed and too stubborn for her own good.

Kagami realised over time that her upbringing hadn’t been the most gentle, it had been filled with strict discipline and time tables after all. But it hadn’t been unloving. It was the proud tradition of her family to be champion fencers and her childhood would thus be different from others. Warmth and love were achieved through reaching one’s objectives. But as Kagami grew older she came to the crossroads of every adult.

To follow in the family footsteps or make her own path.

The Japanese woman smiled to herself, it was a bittersweet smile. This year, this year she would finally win gold and then leave the family legacy behind.

Excusing herself, the Olympic medallist daughter went to her room and flopped onto the bed, having lost some of her proper etiquette over the years spending time with the lax Marinette, Chloe and Adrien. They weren’t her only friends but definitely her closest.

No homework had been given that day, thus she only had one more activity to do, meditation. After an hour of breathing and focusing, Kagmai opened her eyes and climbed onto her bed.

She breathed out and pulled up her phone to see if anyone had messaged in the three hours since she had switched it off.

There was a bunch of texts from Chloe and a few from Marinette.

Their group chat was filled to the brim with silly texts and memes. She was loath to open it as she didn’t wish to be confused after just coming to peace.

Chloe

_05:42_

_Do you know who’s cute? Aurore Beaureal, that’s who._

_06:13_

_Urgh, the new hotel menu is utterly ridiculous! Can you believe they have soup here? Soup! An entire section of it!_

_06:15_

_Marinette texted ‘good for you’ when I told her. That woman! And Adrikins laughed! The audacity of the two!_

_07:22_

_*this message has been deleted*_

_07:23_

_Sabrina’s been bragging how she got full marks on her latest test. Well guess what? I got 74 out of 100 in my latest one and I didn’t even study._

Kagami

_07:40_

_That’s good I suppose. But you should study._

_Soup is good for your health and an amazing appetizer, have you ever even tried any?_

Chloe almost always responded instantaneously. She typed fast and made very few mistakes. Today wasn’t an exception, the mayor’s daughter didn’t waste even a minuet to reply.

Chloe

_07:41_

_Yeah. Yeah. I get it! I’m basically a prodigy!_

_Have I tried any? I did when I was five and hated it ever since!_

Kagami

_07:45_

_You do know there are different kinds of soups right?_

Chloe

_07:46_

_Of course I do. How does that matter?_

Kagami

_07:49_

_Try different ones. If you have a problem with Asian ones try broccoli soup. If you don’t like them veg try the chicken ones. I personally quiet like Chicken and Coriander soup._

Chloe

_07:51_

_I won’t like it._

Kagami

_07:52_

_Not until you try, you won’t._

Chloe

_07:53_

_Urgh fine! But only because you said so. I hope you know how much you mean to me, I didn’t listen to Adrien or Mari about this._

For a second Kagami’s heart fluttered, like it had when she first found out she liked girls. When she felt like kissing Marinette, not that it ever happened.

_“Could I be in love with Chloe? No, not in love, crushing?”_

Kagami felt her face grow hot. Maybe, just maybe, the happiness she felt when she talked to Chloe was more than when she talked to anyone else. Maybe, she looked forward to seeing those piercing blue eyes the most. Maybe she searched for Chloe in a crowd before she searched for anyone else. Not Adrien. Not Marinette. Chloe.

C-H-L-O-E.

A.K.A The blonde brat.

A feeling arose in her heart. It was a bird coming to life in her chest, stretching its wings for the first time, testing the air to see if it was ready. It perched at the edge of the nest. The border between safety and the world was hope and so it stood at that edge and took a look outside before shuffling back to the centre. It was adamant to move yet afraid of what would happen if it stood at the edge too long.

Kagami was pulled back to reality by the phone buzzing in her hands like a mixer machine.

Chloe

_08:04_

_Hellooooo_

_I’m still here._

_Bitch, don’t leave me one read after I just poured out my heart to you!_

_08:05_

_*on read_

Kagami

_08:07_

_Didn’t know you had one. Glad to know I was wrong. It’s the only time you’ll ever prove me wrong._

That seemed smooth. Kagami looked at the screen, waiting for Chloe’s reply. Her heart beat faster than usual despite her calming her feelings.

The blonde girl replied soon enough.

Chloe

_08:08_

_Oh har har. So funny._

_Be careful, maybe I’ll come for your heart to replace mine._

Kagami

_08:09_

_Don’t waste your time. I’ll come give it to you myself._

Kagami bit her lip, hoping what she had texted wasn’t too much. She’d seen Marinette and Alya flirt once or twice as jokes and both didn’t seem to be going anywhere with it. Then again, though Marinette was pretty ambiguous about her sexual orientation, Alya was confirmed straight, while both Chloe and her lesbian.

Her worrying turned out to be pointless when Chloe answered.

Chloe

_08:14_

_Keep it ready. I’ll have my butler pick it up by 6 tomorrow morning._

_08:14_

_Gotta go now. Dad’s having dinner with me tonight. Ttyl._

Kagami

_08:15_

_See you later._

The Japanese woman switched of her phone. She turned in her bed, ready to dose off without eating dinner.

She was nearing the brink of sleep when the wind rustled in, caressing her hair. It whispered against her ears, sweet and soft. The summer maiden was warm and bright and youthful. Her breath was the wind of the land and it was hungry for the night.

Kagami shivered in delight as a particularly cool breeze made its way to her.

_‘That’s strange, I don’t remember opening either my window or balcony door.’_

She opened her eyes and watched the curtains flutter with the breeze.

Kagami got up and made her way to the open balcony, her bokken in hand. Creeping up to the open doors, she looked around for an intruder. There was no one there. Just the city lights glittering on a palate of blues. From deep ocean blue, to inky sky. Pale cream hued clouds, cold from the night temperature and little splotches of dark green from the bushes close to the roads.

Paris was indeed pretty at night, a sight to behold.

The fencer’s eyes roamed the balcony for someone or something. She stepped onto the open space when she didn’t sense anything out of place. Her bare foot felt something in front of it when she shifted it.

Looking downwards, she noticed a small black envelope with a green paw print on its bottom right corner. The black paper almost shone in the lamp light.

Kagami bent and picked up the envelope, wary of any weird things that could happen. The envelope was light and warm, almost as if its deliverer had just left it a second ago. It was slightly bulged in the centre, as though it contained something other than a letter.

The blue haired, brown eyed woman cautiously walked back into her room and closed the door, suspecting who the letter might be from. She already had an idea but couldn’t fathom why.

She sat down on her bed, opened the envelope and invert it. Two things fell out, a green and black button and a card. On the card was, in a neat cursive handwriting of professional calligraphers, written ‘KT’ and ‘open when alone’ in bold letters.

Kagami’s heart beat furiously, pumping blood in her veins at a crazy speed. Her breath felt hot and heavy, waiting for some kind of judgement.

Kagami tentatively opened the black card, surprised to find that despite its elegant handwriting it was plain.

_Kagami Tsurugi,_

_Evil forces have emerged once more to threaten the peace of Paris. Our new enemies happen to be too powerful and numerous for Ladybug and I to defeat alone._

_Thus we ask for your aid in protecting the citizens of Paris and defeating the enemy. This task, in no way, shall be easy or light. You will be forced to make decisions that might be difficult._

_Should you chose to wield the Dragon Miraculous again and join the fight, be aware that you shall have to put duty above heart, and press the green black button for three minutes. I shall come to explain the entire situation in detail in time._

_Should you chose to not accept this mission, please burn both this letter and the button and go about your life normally. You shall not be judged for choosing to decline, we understand the risks are not to be taken lightly._

_Either option you chose, please keep the contents of this letter a secret._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Chat Noir_

Kagami stared at the letter before rereading it. The letter were clear as day, the silver ink catching gold from her yellow lamps.

Could this have been what she was longing for? The power? The thrill? The odds? An adventure of a lifetime, using the skills she had mastered over the years. All while she gets to save this city, maybe even more than the city. She would never get an opportunity like this ever again.

Somewhere, out there, more villains were plotting something and she had been chosen, out of so many, to wield her miraculous and help in the fight again.

There were new enemies to defeat, stronger and more challenging than before. There were more risks, scary enough that she had been warned beforehand and even told it would be alright to walk away like a coward. But she wouldn’t be Kagami Tsurugi, a.k.a The Ice Queen, if something as minor as wounds and difficult decisions swayed her away. She never hesitated and always knew what she wanted, it was the reason of her success, the code she lived by. Strike true and strike hard.

The wind danced against her door, singing a soft howl of freedom. The Japanese woman stood up and opened the door, button in hand.

Greeting the city night she smiled and pushed the button, welcoming that once in a lifetime adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tan Legend  
> over and out~


	8. Ch 6: The first round

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple chases two supers wrapped in shadows. Luka Couffaine watches a battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the two week break I had some exams to give~  
> That's why I published this chapter a day early.

Ch 6

The mid-evening sun slowly lost its strength and started to return to its bed for the day. Somewhere in the city of Paris, a couple were discussing their plans for the close future. 

Nino and Alya stepped towards the man's car after looking at the third flat that day.

“Babe, it’s sweet that you were planning to move in with me but did you really think I would move into a flat without a tub?”, Alya said.

Nino blushed and recalled how he'd asked Alya to move in with him minuets before she did. He hurried to stand next to the driver seat's door before Alya to get to it. It had been an unspoken rule that Alya would never be allowed to drive a car, motorcycle, scooter or any transport at all. Who knew when something weird would happen and the brunette woman would get the urge to start filming?

After three close calls and one unfortunate trip into the Seine, with a bicycle driven by a very safety hazardous Alya (poor Juleka had her bike stolen for the fifth time in her life that day), Nino had sworn to himself he would never let Alya at the helm ever again, lest she take them both to a hospital or worse, an early grave.

“Also, I want to drive.”, Alya said, causing Nino to almost faint on the spot before regaining his senses.

“No. Just no, I want to live, babe.”, Nino hopped into the driver’s seat, ready to guard it with his life.

“That was once Nin-”

“Thrice! And you _succeeded_ once.”, Nino sighed with his forehead pressed to the steering wheel.

“You can’t hold this against me forever. Plus, I was the one that recorded Hawkmoth’s last public appearance!”

“And we cycled right into the Seine because of it!”

“Why didn’t you jump off?”

‘Oh hell no, I wasn’t leaving you. It took me forever to make you stop seeing me as a brother and a man instead.”, Nino sucked in a panicked breath the moment the last word left his mouth and clamped up.

“Nino.”, Alya’s voice was soft and sweet.

Nino sweated heavily, ready to drive off without his girlfriend, when a shadow fell over them. The two looked up as one.

It took a few seconds for Nino to understand what he was seeing against the darkening blue sky. The figure in blue almost blended into the sunset visage above, making it hard for the couple to fully comprehend what was in their sights. Then a familiar black figure ran off behind it, jumping across the wide gap between two buildings with easy grace. While Nino sat and gaped he heard the hard taps of shoes hitting the road followed by the sound of his car door unlocking and them slamming shut.

“..ino. NINO!”, Alya’s frantic voice pulled him out of his thoughts like a blaring horn. She continued to shake him, “Follow those supers!”

“On it.”, Nino came to his senses as his girlfriend rolled down the window to poke out her head. “For the love of god, Alya, keep all your body parts inside the car!”

“Forget that, Nino. Follow!”

“I got it, but no poking your head out of the window.”, Nonetheless, Nino didn’t wait for her response, knowing it wouldn’t be of any use. She’d jump out of the window if it meant she could get her scoop and he’d be forced to pull her back in. _Ah, the things I do for love._

He revved the engine and tore off in pursuit of the quickly disappearing blue and black super traceurs*.

With the setting sun, sending the Parisian sky into blues it was hard to keep track of the rooftop runners that was blending into the sky like they was a part of it.

Nino threw out an apology to a terrified woman that was almost run down as Alya pushed him to take a sharp right. As the two of them moved into a narrow alley, the bespectacled man tried his best to focus on the road and making sure his girlfriend’s body parts were inside the vehicle at all times, leaving himself vulnerable to Alya in regards to navigation.

Alya shouted directions, expletives and words of awe with every second, not even waiting for her body to catch a breath before jumping to another word. Nino wasn’t quiet sure who she was talking to: herself, him or whoever would watch the video later, he supposed it didn’t matter.

He forced himself to breath evenly as he turned into one more alley, grateful that it was wider than the previous one. He wasn’t sure if the two jumping on the rooftops had heard him or Alya, but considering how easy it was to follow them he didn’t think so and he wondered how. His car wasn’t super old but it wasn’t the latest model either. It was in fact quiet nosy in his opinion, he still loved it though. Were the two Miraculous holders so invested in each other that hadn’t noticed?

Nino was sure that the both of them were Miraculous holders, having been one (even if for a short time). Using the Turtle Miraculous had given him a weird attachment to its magic. He could notice the way the two traceurs had something different about them, something that he couldn’t explain through science, but through magic.

He didn’t bother to look at the two miraculous holders, preferring to keep both eyes on the road instead. Alya suddenly gripped his arm and jerked it to make him to go right at the next junction and he bit back a complaint. Forget backseat driving, shotgun driving was not okay either.

He yelped when he noticed how small the new alleyway was and promptly hit the brakes, his car was definitely not going to fit that path. Alya got off the car and began to run down the narrow alleyway while Nino looked behind to see the main street. He quickly reversed and parked his car. Unlike his girlfriend, Nino gave a once over to his surroundings to make sure his car wasn’t blocking anything important before locking his car and hurrying to catch up to his girlfriend.

_‘Sigh…why is my day going like this? I just wanted to eat, play video games with Kim and Jean and then sleep.’_

Nino breathed as he neared the end of the third alleyway, catching a glimpse of an impatient Alya motioning him to hurry before turning around the bend and disappearing.

When he caught up to her, she was standing in front of a dead end.

“Lost ‘em.”, she furiously.

“You’ll get them next time, babe.”

“It was Chat Noir and some other Miraculous holder.”

“I know.”

Alya stopped looking at the wall in front of her and instead turned to Nino. There was disappointment in her eyes, overshadowed by determination.

“There’s trouble in Paris, Nino. I can feel it.”

Maybe it was because she said it with such conviction, or maybe it was because he also felt it in his heart, Nino believed her words with no doubts.

“Yes, I-”

He was interrupted by the sound of both their phones ringing with akuma alert messages. The couple swiftly pulled out their phones and investigated the disturbance.

Nino ignored the map and pulled up a video to see a familiar figure in red fighting against a man in blue. Suddenly, another figure in black and purple appeared behind Ladybug and tried to hit her with a weapon. The video immediately cut off from that point. Nino looked at the map with a red circle drawn above a familiar street, the location of the Akuma battle.

He glanced up in synchronization with Alya, whose eyes sparkled. Without a word the both of them quickly ran out of the alleyway and to his parked car. There was footage to catch.

**~*~**

Luka Couffaine was not having a good day. Maybe it was the late night project completion that didn’t allow him to get wink of sleep, the tough day at his University or the super long walk to his mother’s house only to be disturbed by an Akuma attack. Alright no, it wasn’t an Akuma attack- it was an attack by villains that wielded Miraculouses. How did he know this fact? Maybe it had something to do with the reasoning that he once himself wielded two Miraculouses, not at the same time, but well it was still two Miraculouses. The Snake and the fox.

The black-haired man side-stepped a fallen piece of debris and distanced himself from the battle. He really should have run away like everyone else, but it didn’t seem as though Ladybug would be able to handle the two villains she was up against on her own. Luka knew that he couldn’t help Ladybug in any way, he didn’t have any powers and the little Karate he knew wouldn’t be helpful, but he couldn’t leave her all alone either. His instincts were against it.

He grit his teeth and watched the battle unfold, his fingers tightly gripping his phone. The bright screen of the akuma alert app paled his fingers.

Ladybug spun her yoyo around and tried to hit her opponents. The Villain in deep blue gracefully side-stepped while his partner in silver and purple used her cane to knock away the yoyo.

The blue villain had a very serene tune, if not too repetitive. It was calm and quiet, but sometimes (for a couple of seconds) would turn rapid and loud. The purple villainess had a song that beat at a frenzied tempo. It seemed too ecstatic and moody, never really staying at a certain chord, changing at a moment’s notice. Luka wished for his guitar or any instrument to confirm the soul songs. He found it hard to convert songs of the soul into words. Understanding it was even harder without an instrument.

Luka realised that the two villains were the wielders of the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous but no matter how hard he stared they didn’t look like Mayura and Hawkmoth. That could only mean that the wielders were new.

_‘Shouldn’t Ladybug be able to handle them with ease? She’s the veteran here.'_

Luka was a bit taken aback by how the Peacock Miraculous holder was handling himself against Ladybug. It almost seemed as though he was the one defeating her. Luka sucked in a breath when the Butterfly villain appeared behind Ladybug and swung her cane at the heroine. Ladybug jumped over it in a backflip before kicking the villainess in her face.

The musician would be lying if he said it didn’t make him smile. But it seemed that was all the good luck the heroine was getting that day, the next few seconds should have been too fast for Luka to see, not with the speed at which everything happened or the blue sky. But somehow he could notice every detail, like a memory was repeating itself to make one reality.

The Peacock villain flicked his wrist quickly and a row of glinting small blades flung out of the feathered folds. They glinted in the lamp lights and speedily moved towards their target. Ladybug dodged most of them and stepped out of their way with two stuck deep into her forearm. As little rivulets spilled out and she groaned, a shadow fell upon her. The next second, a cane connected with her head and she fell to the ground.

Luka roared with anger and stepped out of the shadows of the building, ready to do something, anything. But what could he do? He didn’t have powers. All he knew was a little martial arts and if Ladybug couldn’t handle the villains did he even stand a chance? He had just stepped into the lamp lights, the eyes of Ladybug and the Peacock villain on him when baton swung out of the darkness and smacked away the cane aimed for the red and black heroine.

“Milady! Are you okay?”, Chat Noir said and helped said lady stand up.

Luka noticed the other figure behind the black cat hero. The few lamps didn’t give him enough light to see the figure properly but he deduced it was a blue and black female Miraculous holder.

She flung her blade at the Peacock Miraculous holder. The Peacock Miraculous holder jumped away. Luka was surprised to see a chain joined to the blade and looked back towards the newest Miraculous holder in blue, trying to listen to her soul song. He was surprised by a Black figure coming up to him.

“Keep an eye on her. Don’t let her back into the fight.”, Chat Noir said as he handed over Ladybug to the surprised musician.

“Ah…right.”, Luka said with a nod. He gripped Ladybug tightly, but not painfully.

The lady in red grumbled under her breath and gave Chat what should have been a glare but was dampened because of her haze from the attack to her not letting her keep eyes open.

Luka retreated into the shadows as Chat Noir bounded back into the battle. Luka allowed Ladybug’s shorter frame to lean against him. A small part of him hoped she didn’t find his grip on her offensive or dangerous, after all as calm as he tried to be Luka Couffaine could be equally anxious. Juleka often laughed at him for managing to be so calm in front of people. If they didn't catch him by surprise they almost never saw him nervous.

The larger part of his brain was more focused to two things: making sure she didn’t lose consciousness and keeping an eye on the battle.

Luka had learnt to be a lot of things with an adventurous mother and a younger sister. Being the family doctor for most non-critical things was one of them. He knew bumped heads could cause a concussion and though the chances of coma were low if someone fell asleep, they were still there. And even if that didn't happen an unconscious Ladybug could also be a problem.

“Could you tell me who these people are?”, he murmured to Ladybug, trying to keep her mind active.

“Two new Miraculous holders, we don’t really know them.”, Ladybug said and shuffled slightly. Her response was a bit slow but at least adrenaline was keeping her from sleeping.

Luka watched as Chat Noir beat the Butterfly villainess to a corner. His eyes then wandered to the two blue fighters on the other side. There seemed to be a conversation going on between them.

“What about your friend? Safe to tell me about her?”, he asked.

“I don’t know. Chat brought her along. He brought along Nino and Alya too it seems.”, Ladybug nodded against his shirt and he traced her gaze to look to the far side of the street to see two figures.

_‘Wait she can see that?’_

He was startled when Ladybug moved away from and brought out her yoyo.

“You aren’t thinking of joining the battle are you?”, Luka asked worriedly. He watched the heroine, ready to stop her before she hurt herself worse.

“In a sense…”

“What? No. You could have a concussion right now! And Chat Noir told-“

Luka stopped when Ladybug sent him a glare, this time it was not dulled by her hazy eyes.

“Chat isn’t the boss of me.”, she huffed and brought up her yoyo. “Lucky charm!”

Her power worked and a small packet of cornflower powder dropped into her hands. Luka watched as she bit her lip and glanced around, her eyes darting and taking in every detail.

Then her eyes widened and she glanced at Chat Noir and his blue partner. They worked together to try and hit the two villains.

“Chat!”, Ladybug exclaimed, “Catalclysm this!”

She prepared herself and then threw the packet to her partner. Chat Noir called upon his power and grabbed the packet, noticing what it was in the split second it took to destroy it and then flung out his hand in an arc. The powder content spread out into a cloud and covered both the villains. The two of them scrambled out of the powder cloud, coughing, and Chat with the girl beside him launched a series of attacks, the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculisy holders were too winded and distracted by their coughing to concentrate on the fighting.

“I’ll be coming to brief you on everything soon. We will need you in this fight.”, Ladybug suddenly said to Luka. He turned and gazed into her eyes- they were a familiar blue, and he knew that he knew them from somewhere. He knew that he knew her, but he couldn’t quiet place his finger on it.

“Okay.”, He said without processing her words, just staring into her blue-bell eyes, a weird feeling of warmth flickering in his chest. He couldn’t understand it.

He was pulled out of his reverie when a loud shriek resounded in the streets. His eyes flickered to the two villains. The Butterfly villain was being pulled away by her partner in crime, even though their teamwork was lacking and their tunes were too discordant to really be called partners. She shrieked once again before conceding and then the two of them disappeared.

A few people broke into an applause and Luka was surprised to find some people had actually stayed and watched the fight. Or maybe this was their district and they were worried for it.

Chat Noir turned to ask the female in blue for a fist bump only to find her going away as well.

“Hey wait!”, he said and ran towards her.

“I may have helped you this once, but I doubt it will happen again. Please keep what we talked about earlier in mind.”, the female said in a quiet voice and disappeared into the darkness.

Ladybug left Luka’s side to join a standstill Chat Noir. The black-haired man watched a brunette drag along a man and make her way to the hero duo. It was Alya and Nino, he realised.

Alya started to frantically ask Ladybug questions. Luka applauded the heroine for keeping calm and instead requesting the amateur journalist to wait, stating she would talk to her later. He couldn’t see Alya but assuming by the silence, he deduced she must have agreed.

Ladybug suddenly flung up her hand and chanted “Miraculous Ladybug.”

The world was suddenly surrounded by ladybugs. Ladybugs that softly covered all destruction and harm and turned it to normal. Luka felt their touch linger and opened his eyes when all he felt was the warm breeze of summer.

The few people still gather looked at their houses and shops, which were back to they were before, and thanked the red and black heroine. She waved to them and turned away to leave, her arm briefly touching Chat Noir’s shoulder.

Then for split second, she looked to where Luka was in the shadows and gave him a slight nod. Ladybug quickly said bug out and left the scene along with her partner.

Luka Couffaine silently ambled along. He brought out his phone to see quiet a few many messages and calls from his mother and sister. Luckily he had kept it in ‘Do- Not- Disturb’ mode the entire time.

He picked up the next call that came with dread and stood in silence as his sister rained down a torrent of expletives on him.

He cut the call once she was done and gave the moon a dirty look, as though it was the cause of his problems.

Luka Couffaine was not having a good day. Maybe it was the late night project completion that didn’t allow him to get wink of sleep, the tough day at his University or the super long walk to his mother’s house. Okay no, it wasn’t any of those, it was definitely the Supervillain attack.

**~*~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to give me reviews and constructive criticism. 
> 
> Tan Legend  
> Over and Out~


	9. Ch7: You must Forgive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A visitor from the future and another chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not fully happy with this chapter. I might edit it so what out for that or you might miss important details.

_*Previously on War of Miracles*_

_Ladybug quickly said bug out and left the scene along with her partner._

_Ch7_

“Who is she?”, Ladybug said as she and Chat Noir raced each other. The wind buffeted her words but she knew that her partner had heard her.

“We didn’t talk much. I saw her when I was on the route to keep the Horse Miraculous in flat #121 and wasted most of time chasing her across Paris. When she decided I wasn’t threatening enough we got to talk for a minute or two before my senses told me something was amiss. I checked and found out that someone had started an akuma alert. Then I came with her to help as fast as I could.”, the man in black said.

Ladybug hummed a response, not really in the mood to speak just yet, her throat felt clogged, stuck. In a way, her heart was still beating unevenly, like when she first started to run. The uneven tempo unnerved her and she breathed deep to try and bring it back to normal. She was missing something, something she really needed- not like oxygen or like water, but more like something she needed to sense. There was something she needed to hear, and it wasn’t the wind blowing in her face and whispering sweet nothings into her ears.

“What did you talk about?”, She asked as the both of them simultaneously jumped over a gap between two buildings.

“Well…She told me to call her Nyx and that she wasn’t either friend or foe, Bugaboo. I would’ve talked more but well, the Akuma alarm interrupted us before she could respond about what she knew about the new Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous holders.”

“What about –“. Ladybug cut off midway when blue light crackled to life a few yards in front of her. She stopped and skid till she was just feet away from the light. A wide blue circle with pale blue light, not really weighing anything, anchored to nothing but time: A portal.

Chat stopped right next to her and the two of them wait patiently with a smile.

Two blue and white bunny ears popped out of the white and blue circle in front of them, followed by a red head and a face.  
“’Sup Kitty Noir and Mini-bug.”, Bunnyx said when she finally got through the portal. It blinked out of existence the next second.

“Bunny!”, Chat said, prompting the redhead to punch him on the head.

“It’s Bunnyx, you boop!”, Bunnyx said while Chat Noir chuckled in return.

“Bunnyx.”, Ladybug said trying to smile but her tiredness crept into it. Bunnyx seldom came to them for fun. Something was happening in the future. Something that warranted the Miraculous of last chance to be used.

“Don’t look so wary, Mini-bug. It’s mostly good news this time.”, the rabbit Miraculous holder said. She gave a smile.

Ladybug let out a sigh of relief and closed her eyes. She was definitely tired today and the throbbing in head was surely a sign of a bump. The latest battle had been taxing and she still hadn’t used her _Miraculous Ladybug_ to heal. She didn’t know what she would do if more bad news was toppled onto her.

“But wait a sec before I say anything. What’s the date? I haven’t used the Miraculous to go this far back in time for quite a while. Want to make sure this is the right time.” ,the heroine in blue and white said.

Ladybug told her the date, still wary even though Bunnyx had told her to be at ease.

“Huh, I guess I’m near the right time then. Tell me has anything…weird happened?”

“You mean the magically huge amount of hostile Miraculous holders in Paris out of which at least three are not from our Miracle box?”, Chat Noir said and Ladybug huffed in annoyance, not wanting to remember their enemies.

Bunnyx gave them a small smile, “Yeah that’s it.”

“What do we need to know?”, Ladybug jumped. This was her only chance to get information about their adversaries.

“I can’t tell you anything. You’re older self specifically asked me not to tell you anything.”

“Then why-?”

“Am I here?”, Bunnyx completed her sentence for her, “To tell you not to show mini-me the way to use our miraculous yet.”

“Wh-”

“This is important mini-bug!”, the elder heroine put her arms on the younger one’s shoulders, “No matter what, you cannot give me the miraculous. Do you get me?”

Ladybug couldn’t understand why. Was ALix not responsible enough yet? She somehow managed to wrestle her questions into a box and give nod. Bunnyx gave a sigh of relief.

“This is for you, Kitty Noir.”, Bunnyx turned to Chat Noir and extended her palm.

The black cat hero put forward his own hand and Bunnyx dropped somethings into it. Ladybug leaned to look into her partner’s hands but he quickly stashed it in his pocket. _The object must have been small._

“And this is for you, Mini-bug.”, Bunnyx turned to her. Ladybug received whatever was addressed to her, she looked at her open palm and saw a small, wooden a flute-like object and an envelope, “What?”

“Your future self has written a letter to you. Read it then burn it.”, Bunnyx said and Ladybug looked up, more question brimming in her mouth. She was cut off when the time heroine continued on, “I will be serious Mini-bug and Kitty Noir, this ordeal will be harder than any you have faced.”

Her eyes found Chat Noir’s, “You have to be ready. Ready for that secret to come out.”

Ladybug saw Chat Noir’s eyes widen and a sense of panic come to him. She saw it in his eyes, he was fearful. The way he stiffened, it was so rare for him to tense outside of an akuma battle, told Ladybug how powerful this secret was. Should she ask him what it was about? No, maybe it had something do with his civilian life and she had no right to pry into it.

“And you’ll have to learn to let go, to forgive, Mini-bug.”, Bunny put her hands on Ladybugs shoulders. “It’s the only way you can move forward.”

“Wait-”, both Ladybug and Cat Noir said at the same time but Bunnyx silenced both of them by shaking her head. She moved back and both could tell it was her time to leave.

“Be brave, be strong. And…I’m sorry.”

Maybe the last thing she said wasn’t something she was supposed to, because Ladybug saw Bunnyx’s eyes widen in realisation. Realization of her mistake? Her blunder? Some important think she remembered she had to do? The blue haired heroine couldn’t find out because a portal opened and the Rabbit heroine turned and left before either of the two could say anything.

The wind picked up the fallen silence and tenseness and pushed it up, muttering a stifled howl. Both heroes looked to where the time traveller had gone, nothing left to show she had ever been at that spot. At that time.

The heroine in red and black let out a breath, her eyes looked up to find the moon, it was a small crescent.

“Are you going to read the letter?”, Chat Noir asked, finally breaking the silence.

She looked at the envelope, it was pink.

_‘Seems my taste doesn’t change in the future.’_

She turned it around to see her handwriting same as ever, if not a little more refined, spelling out her hero name ‘Ladybug’. Under her large name, written in small font were the words ‘Open when alone’.

“I’ve explicitly told myself to open this in the comfort of solitude.”, Ladybug said with a amused glance, trying to use humour to bring a sense of normalcy like Chat did.

“Okay.”, Chat’s quiet reply told her she had failed.

She held back her disappointment and placed the flute-like object and envelope in the magical storage in her yoyo. The envelope crinkled when she tried to force it in but she managed it with minimal damage. She’d observe the two things later.

“I have some things to think about. Can we talk about all that happened today some other time?”, her partner said in an uncharacteristically serious voice.

Ladybug tried to glimpse of her partner’s expression but he was turned away from her, hand itching for his baton. She wondered how effective Bunnyx’s word had been for Chat Noir to react so strongly. A lot considering how he wasn’t even looking at her. Was it because it was something that concerned her? Or because it was it because it meant a lot to him? Chat Noir was one of the most humorous and fun-loving person she knew, but he was also very sensitive, he just smothered it better than most.

“Okay.”, She couldn’t help her own silent reply. After all, she hated failing at anything, even lifting the spirits of her partner.

“Ah, you should take this.”, Chat Noir turned to give her something.  
  


Ladybug took the Horse Miraculous that he was holding out to her.

“Also, I told Kagami we would need her again, she agreed to help.”, He said and turned around again, ready to bolt.

“Go home safe, Chat.”, Bluebell eyes looked over to their partner.

Green eyes flashed as he turned to meet her gaze, “You too.”

The next second he was gone. She didn’t see him go, he just melded into the night and shadows. Gone with the wind. She looked at the crescent moon one more time and breathed out.

“Let’s go.”, she softly said to herself.

Ladybug swung from roof to roof, not stopping even once, she had a destination in her mind, but still a lot of ground to cover. Might as well talk to Luka Couffaine tonight. She followed the Seine to search for a certain boathouse.

 _‘How creepy of you to know where he is.’,_ a voice snickered in her mind.

 _‘Shut up.”,_ she grumpily told her inner devil.

She wasn’t a stalker anymore, granted she had only ever stalked Adrien. She shivered as she recalled her teenage years, what a mess she had been. She knew where he was because he had told her. Because tomorrow she had to meet him for a date…? A meeting? Hang out? Yeah, hang out sounded best.

_‘Don’t blush, dummy. It’s not a date, you don’t even know if he feels the same way anymore…’_

The red and black spotted heroine stopped when she saw the Couffaine family ship. She pulled out a red and black envelope from her yoyo storage, this was one she’d written two days ago, along with Chat Noir. Finalizing everything that needed to be said, making sure to not expose Luka’s identity as Viperion.

She breathed in the night, summer had made it warm. Courage, she needed courage to talk to him. Texting was one thing, talking was another. But maybe she wouldn’t need to talk to him, maybe she wouldn’t get to. The man with black hair and aqua eyes stood alone on his deck, but she could hear the chatter of him talking with his family. She watched from her perch as Juleka popped up, said something to him before going back inside laughing. His face was close to glowing despite the recent akuma attack he had to watch.

Taking a chance, she swung over to the ship and landed on its roof. Luka looked over to where she was and his eyes widened a little, maybe he hadn’t expected her to come by so soon. Akuma attack or not, Ladybug had already decided to contact him today, it would be the only time she would know his location as she didn’t know his new address.

Ladybug put her gloved finger to her lips in the universal sign of silence. Juleka Couffaine chose that moment to come out once more, now having a Rose Lavillant with longer hair on her arm. The slightest nod of Luka’s head was all the indication that he had understood her.

“So…who will you be going to see tomorrow, Luka?”, Rose asked with a giggle.

Ladybug tensed up. Of course Juleka and Rose would find out about their dat- no- their hang out plans for tomorrow.

“Haha. So you can scare them off? I think not, Rose.”, Luka said with a lax smile on his face. Ladybug relaxed.

“Aw…you’re no fun.”, Rose said with a pout.

“Blame yourselves. The both of you somehow always manage to find me and my date no matter where in the city we go.”, Luka’s reply was teasing.

“We don’t do it on purpose.”, Juleka said with a huff.

“Ay, Luka. It can’t be helped all Couffaines think of the same place for romantic spots.”, Anarcha Couffaine popped up and walked over to the three.

Ladybug stiffened once again. She hadn’t seen Anarcha Couffaine, but that didn’t mean the mother hadn’t seen her. Had she seen her? What would happen if she had seen her?

“Do not.”, both the Couffaine siblings said. Suprisingly Luka’s voice was softer than Juleka’s, who used to mumble all the time as a teen.

Everyone laughed at their timing and then talked some more. Ladybug tried her best to not listen in to their private family life.

She patiently stood in the shadows, trying not to be seen.

“Well, I’m going and getting grub, anything else ya need?”, Anarcha said heading for the door.

“My amp and-“

“We’ll get it!”, Rose didn’t let Luka complete before grabbing his sister’s hand and dashing inside.

The mother and son made faces at each other before smiling and going about their tasks.

Now left alone on the boat deck with Luka, Ladybug quickly jumped to him, looking into his aqua blue eyes for a second she handed him the envelope. He gently took it from her, a question forming at his lips.

“The letter will explain everything you need to know right now.”, the red and black heroine said.

She supposed she should have stayed and explained, but she didn’t have time. Taking in his eyes one more time, the cool sturdy blue that kept her grounded one more time, she let out a breath and swung away.

**~*~**

Marinette plopped down on her bed and breathed out. Tikki flew over to her cookie stash.

“What is going on Tikki?”, Marinette said tiredly.

“I don’t understand what you’re asking Marinette.”, Tikki said.

“Bunnyx came to tell us not to give Alix the Rabbit Miraculous. And she gave me these.”, the blue eyed girl held up the flute-like structure and the envelope.

“That’s the Tunema.”, Tikki pointed towards the flute-like object.

“The one ingredient you said we needed to scavenge from the temple Master Fu had trained in?”

“Yes. Each Miracle box has one and only one can help in upgrading of Miraculous from a specific box. If your future self has given you this, then it must from our miracle box.”

“So…how much time have we saved?”, Marinette asked. Looking for the temple and its contents would have been a time taking and hard mission. Her older self have given this to her to save time.

“I can’t say.”

Marinette hummed in response and opened the envelope. Pulling out the letter she sat up straight and read it.

_Hey Marinette,_

_Haha this is weird, writing to myself. Anyways, there are a few important things I need to tell you._

_Firstly, do not give Alix Kubdel the Rabbit Miraculous. I’m sure Bunnyx has already told you this but I’m reminding you one more time._

_Secondly, if you wish to upgrade you will have to go to an ‘Order of the Miraculous’ temple. You can go to anyone and the upgrade will work, as long as you have determination, love and the willingness to sacrifice in you._

_Thirdly, never lose your way. Trust in yourself and those who care for you. I know this time of life will be hard. The events that take place will sometimes suffocate you, I know because I’ve been there. But you must move forward anyways. You’ll come to the right place eventually._

_Lastly, you must forgive. It most necessary, because if you don’t have the strength to forgive…well I can’t tell you about the future but I can tell you that you will regret it. I know you’re strong enough to do this. Stay strong, stay safe._

_That is all._

_Love,_

_Marinette Dupain-Cheng_

_P.s- It’s best to burn this letter once you’re done reading it._

“What are you thinking about Marinette?”, Tikki asked, blue eyes wide with worry.

Marinette looked up and felt a tightness in her chest. Learn to forgive? Was she not forgiving enough? Was someone going to betray her?

_Does the future really hold so much pain for me?_

“I don’t know Tikki. I think I need to sleep.”

Tomorrow, she’ll deal with everything tomorrow. When her heart isn’t beating like she’s about to burst and she isn’t so tired she can’t stop herself from overthinking.

She rolled over and closed her eyes, trusting Tikki to understand the que and switch off the lights.

Seconds later, her room was in darkness. She let out a sigh and allowed sleep to take over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tan Legend  
> over and out~


	10. Ch 8: A date with at a fair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette goes on a da-sorry-a hang out with Luka.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unedited and 4ooo words long.  
> Damn my back is broken.

Ch 8

Marinette stare into the reflection of her blue-bell eyes. Putting on the last of her mascara she stepped away from the mirror and surveyed herself.

“I think I look great.”, she told Tikki.

“Oh course you do!”, Tikki chirped in response.

Marinette agreed. She did look great. Especially that shirt. It was the best blue shirt she had, cyan and white. Today was the day she had a date -uh- _hang out_ with Luka. Gods, why was she making this so awkward for herself? Maybe because this was her ex? They never did anything specifically romantic when they dated but…they did kiss each other’s cheeks a few times, too uncertain to kiss each other’s lips. And every time she’d seen a new text from him she’d blush as red as her Ladybug suit. Did she still blush like that though? A ping sound alerted her to a new text.

_ Luka _

_06:24_

_Hey_

_You ready yet? I’m on route to your place._

Marinette gave herself a quick glance in the mirror. The blush on her face was still there and so was that grin. Damn it, she had it bad.

Marinette

_06:25_

_Yeah, I’m ready. See you soon!_

The blue haired woman gave herself a once over. Everything was great. For once she was on time and her parents were not giving her looks for going on a dat- hang out! It was a hang out.

“You know what? The skirt suddenly feels too short.”, she nervously laughed and moved to take it off.

“Marinette.”, Tikki’s chiding voice made her stop.

“What? It does look too short.”, blue bell eyes narrowed in worry and finger poised over the button.

“It doesss not.”, Sass said suddenly and alerted her to his presence. 

“Keep it on.”, Tikki said at the same time.

Cornered by two assertive mini gods, Marinette had no choice but to agree.

“You look wonderful.”, Sass said and Tikki nodded her head ferociously.

She looked at the Snake Kwami. His box was out in the open because he would be given to Luka Couffaine soon and she had some things to run by the two eldest Kwamis of her Miracle box.

Luka’s own reply had come that morning, the bottom right spot of her earing had glowed to show that he had accepted the task of becoming Viperion once again.

_ Luka _

_06:31_

_I’m here_

“Marinette! Your friend is here.”, Sabine knocked on her daughter’s room’s trap door.

“Coming maman!”, Marinette said.

She rushed down the stairs a second later. Her father was talking to Luka and the younger man was nodding along. Marinette didn’t know if Luka was actually interested in what he was listening to or if he was feigning interest. Marinette blinked as she took in his appearance.

He’d gone with black and deep magenta. It was the first time she’d ever seen him in something aside from blue, white or black. Somehow she’d managed to go as casual as he had.

“H-hey Luka.”, Marinette said as she stood next to him.

“Hey, Ma-ma Marinette.”, he said with a soft grin.

“Well then, both of you stay safe.”, Tom said before turning to Luka. He gave him a smiling face, which Marinnete saw as a good sign, “I’m leaving her in your care, young man.”

The bluenette almost choked at her father’s words. It somehow sounded like he was saying something more. Luka straightened beside and nodded before giving the man a smile.

“Of course sir.”

“Okay then, bye!”, Marinette tried to drag the taller man away before her father could embarrass her any further.

“Have fun!”, Sabine’s voice drifted to the leaving couple. Marinette smoothened her expression and said a nervous 'We will!’ as she closed the door behind them .

“They’re so embarrassing sometimes!”, Marinette whined, her arm still in the crook of Luka’s elbow. Luka hadn’t asked her to remove it; he was too nice to say that. She wasn’t in the mood to remove her hand either, it felt nice. She was sure he didn’t mind. But what if he did mind? What if he didn’t mind and would be hurt if she removed it? She went spiraling again. Luka’s reply pulled her out before she could think about it too much.

“They care about you.”

“I know that, but- you’re supposed to agree with me!”, her eyes found his.

“Am I? Do tell me, I’ll be sure to follow your instructions to the T next time.”, he said teasingly.

Marinette huffed and pouted, “Anyways, what’s your plan for the first half of our….for the first half?”, she caught herself before she could either say ‘date’ or ‘hang out’. She didn’t know which it was and a small part of her was scared to find out.

Back when she and Luka had dated as teens, one would plan what to do in the first half and the other would plan what to do in the second. Their thought process was usually along the same lines even though they were both not as similar as people would think.

Just because both were helpful and artists most people would think they were alike. They couldn’t be further from the truth. Luka was a calm person, Marinette was more uptight. While she got involved in someone’s problems and became an example whose lead they could follow, Luka gave advice and support which would help them break out of their shells themselves. The both of them might do the same thing but their methods were totally different.

“You know that fair close to the Arc De Triomphe?”

Marinette frowned and nodded in disagreement. She didn’t know, but even more surprising than that was the fact that Luka had suggested to go somewhere so crowded. From all their years of knowing each other Marinette had gleaned that Luka was an introvert and a private person. It was just her assumption, but she had always thought Luka was someone that liked space.

Luka continued with an explanation, “Well, it’s this fair that been going on recently. It’ll last for a week or so.”

“Wouldn’t you rather go somewhere private?”, Marinette said and then realised how suggestive it sounded, “I-I mean, a crowded place doesn’t seems like your style” she nervously chuckled, “I mean it can be your style. I’m not telling you what to-”

“Calm down.”, Luka said and moved his free arm to put it on her shoulder. Their position was a bit awkward now but neither seemed to mind, “I like being around people sometimes. Depends on the crowd. Plus, I know Jules and Rose are busy today so I thought it would be a safe bet to go there.”

Marinette laughed, “Couffaines always take their dates to the same place.”, she bit her lip when she realised she’d just called herself his date. But date didn’t always have to be romantic right? She couldn’t bring herself to look into Luka’s eyes.

“Yeah..”, Luka’s incomplete reply was all that told her that he’d heard the ‘date’ word and singled it out.

She peeked to look at his face but he was turned away and all she could see was his hair and the tips of his ears. Ears red with embarrassment or red with shyness?

He turned back to her and she sucked in a breath. A light pinkness still gathered on his cheeks, so faint she would not have seen it if the Ladybug Miraculous hadn’t slightly enhanced her eyesight for dealing with nightly akuma attacks. Maybe he thought she couldn’t see it because of the night but she could.

She had never seen his blushing face before, he had always been so calm and collected in front of her.

“I would love to go.”, Marinette leaned closer. Her own heart beat really fast for some unknown reason.

“I’m glad.”, he smiled and led her to his bike which was parked close to the park in front of her house.

**~*~**

By the time they made it to the fair the crowd was filled with people. Marinette and Luka walked into the fair.

It was bright and colourful, and even a small Ferris wheel had been set up. Food stalls were everywhere. Marinette wondered how she hadn’t caught wind of this Fair yet. Was she so deep in fashion and the new threat to Paris?

“How long has this fair been going on?”, Marinette asked.

“A while, Three days if you want the exact number of days.”

There was nothing judging in Luka’s voice. He said it like it wasn’t weird that she hadn’t heard of such a large scale fair. Marinette relaxed as the both of them went further in.

“What would you like to do first?”, the both of them said at the same time before looking each other in the eyes and laughing.

“The ring game.”, Marinette said. “You know…the one where you toss a ring and hope it lands on the gift you want?”

“I do.”, Luka said with a smile and let Marinette pull him along.

**~*~**

“Then six year old Rose said, ‘You love me don’t you?’ in her most teasing voice ever. Juleka looked her dead straight in the eye and whispered, ‘I do’ in the loudest and most serious voice I’ve ever heard her use. And that’s why I say they’ve been dating for at least decade and a half.”, Luka finished as Marinette ‘awed’ at the sweet interaction of Juleka and Rose as Children.

Marinette took another bite out of her sandwich and Luka took a delicate sip from his bear bottle. The bluenette couldn’t help eyeing him and the bottle in his hand. Somehow, beers just seemed like something that went well with Luka. A small part of her pushed away the thought of seeing him with rum. He wasn’t a pirate damn it, Marinette.

“You’re thinking about why I’m not drinking rum, aren’t you?”, Luka said noticing her gaze.

She felt her face red and leaned a little back, embarrassed that he had somehow read her like an open book.

“No, you aren’t that transparent. You aren’t the first one to say or think that.”, Luka assured her with a teasing smile.

“Ass.”

The word tore out of her mouth before she knew it. Marinette blinked while Luka raised an eyebrow in amusement.

“I don’t usually go around cursing.”, she said defensively.

“I know.”, Luka said.

She coughed to clear her throat, “Last year of law school, right?”

“Sorbonne Law School.”

“Parsons.”, Marinette gave the name of her university in return.

“I knew you’d make it.”, Luka said with his hands around the beer bottle in his hands.

Marinette beamed at him. Parsons was special for having curriculum based on New York City style school system. Though she wouldn’t get to see and experience the fashion from its source she would exposed to a wider range of fashions at Parsons.

“Where will you go after you’re done?”, Marinette already knew that he would leaving for America after he completed this year to further his studies. Juleka had casually brought it up at their last hang out and the blue-bell eyed woman had selectively stored that information in her brain.

“Maybe America.”, Luka’s eyes caught hers.

America...huh? Marinette wondered whether he would go to New York, if he did would he meet Jess there? Maybe they'd bond over guitar. She felt a stab of pain when she realised she was thinking about Jess. Jess who didn't remember her or Chat anymore.

Before she could ask him she caught the sight something familiar from the corner of her eye. Brown hair dyed red at the tips were pulled into a cute bun and familiar hazel eyes held an annoyingly scary glint in them. Marinette sweat and she caught Alya’s gaze. Her best friend gave her s million watt smile and made her way to them, dragging Nino along.

Marinette felt sorry for Nino, who was always pulled along with the headfast woman, but felt sorrier for herself and the endless question she would face when Alya would corner her in the near future.

“Marinette! Luka.”, Alya acknowledge the two of she reached them with her boyfriend in tow.

“Alya! What a surprise to see you and Nino here!”, Marinette said, wishing if she could reverse time. This was supposed to a private affair. Private so she wouldn’t have to explain herself to anyone and so that she wouldn’t feel pressed.

“Hello.”, Luka said in front of her and Alya and Nino nodded at him in sync.

“I’m surprised you’re here. Thought you’d be buried in your summer project.”, Alya said.

Marinette gave a small laugh, “I’m not even half way done.”

“Well I need to go to the bathroom.”, Nino said and started backing away.

“I’ll come along too.”, Luka got up.

Marinette pleaded to him in her mind to stay and not leave her alone with an inquisitive Alya. Her telepathy didn’t work because all she got was an excusing look from Luka and then both the men were gone.

Everything seemed to be going positive for Alya because she sat herself down in front of Marinette with a knowing smirk. The blunette dreaded the next few minuets.

“So, were you planning to tell me you had a date with Luka?”

Honesty always seemed like the best policy in cases like these, but somehow Marinette felt she was digging her hole deeper, “No.”

“Huh…okay then, how _did_ this happen?”, Alya gestured to her then the place where Luka had vanished to.

Marinette muttered under her breath then bit into her sandwich. At that moment she would’ve liked nothing more than to melt into the ground and disappear. Why couldn’t she become a part of the pavement and be ignored forever?

“I didn’t hear you.”, Alya said in a sing song way.

“Ugh! We happened to come across each other, realised we missed each other- or at least _I_ realised I missed him and then decided to meet up.”

“So is this a dat-”

“No, it is not!”

“Well do you want it to be?”

Marinette looked away from her empty plate and into Alya’s eyes. Did she want this to be a date? Did she want to try again? She wouldn’t have time to give to her date. She would have to disappear every time an Akuma or the villains attacked. It wouldn’t be fair to expect people to not get upset about her disappearances every time there was some magical problem. Luka would be going as Viperion too so she wouldn’t have this problem. So then, wasn’t she just using him because she couldn’t have anyone else?

“I….I don’t know...”,she looked away and out towards the crowd close by.

“You could always try.”, Alya’s voice was soft, “This is the guy you’ve been pinning for since tenth grade.”

“I can’t just _try_ with Luka. I have to give him my all and I can’t. I’ll have to prioritize my studies over him many times. It wouldn’t be fair to him.”

“The fact that he’s infatuated with a mess like you shows me he wouldn’t mind.”, Alya placed her hand on her best friend’s.

“But I would! I would mind! All the time. He deserves better.”, Her eyes found a mop of black hair over the sea of faces. Alya turned and saw him too, she whipped around to face the bluenette and firmly placed her arms on the shorter woman’s biceps.

“Marinette, listen to me. You will never what could happen if you won’t let it. Do you want to regret knowing that you never tried?”

Marinette shock her head as Alya pulled her a little closer.

“I’ve seen you in your worst and best. Let me tell you that you never shine as much as you do than with the people you love and that people includes Luka Couffaine. So do me a favour and give this a chance. A proper one not interrupted by your commitment fears and thinking you aren’t good enough. Because you are. You are good enough, better even. That’s why, the next time I see you going one date, it should be with that guitar boy over there.”, Alya pointed her thumb behind her back where Luka and Nino were patiently waiting for them to most likely finish their talk.

“Okay.”, Marinette said softly.

She could do this. She could give this relationship a chance. She felt the warmth of determination pool up in her stomach. She straightened as Alya pulled back before giving her a hug. She hugged her back.

Alya turned to walk towards Nino. “Good luck, girl.”

Marinette watched as Alya and Nino left and Luka made his way to her. He didn’t ask her what she and Alya had been talking about and Marinette couldn’t be more grateful.

“Ready to go on the Ferris Wheel?”, Marinette asked with a light chuckle. The crowd had reduced in their two hours of being there. And being on the Ferris Wheel at this point of time would be a clear insinuation of romantic interest.

She wouldn’t have noticed it if her gaze wasn’t solely fixed on Luka but his eyes widen and the lightest blush spread on his face, making him look like some kind of cute cherry blossom and she fought to keep hers off her cheeks. The heat she felt on her face told her that she had failed and now looked like a red cherry. Damn it, now the both of them were blushing dorks.

“Right now?”, Luka asked.

“Right now.”, she affirmed.

The both of them made their way to the Ferris wheel and stood in line, surrounded by couples buzzing with excitement. Marinette had her arm in the crook of his hands again and the both seemed as much like a couple as the rest of them but she couldn’t help but feel that someone would shout out ‘imposters’ and point fingers at them. There was also the fact that Luka was adamant to look anywhere but at her and she started to fear that maybe he wasn’t interested in her anymore.

When the previous batch got off, she spotted Alya who noticed her immediately. As Nino pulled her along, the brunette turned to her and mouthed ‘go for it girl’. Marinette nodded.

When their turn came, Luka helped her in and sat down in front of her. She blinked as the both of them were enveloped in partial darkness. Now she just had to summon the courage to kiss him.

As they slowly ascended she and Luka began to talk, but she couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t the right time to kiss him.

“It’s pretty.”, Luka said from beside her.

“It is.”, Marinette agreed.

“You are prettier.”, Luka said with a teasing grin. Marinette subconsciously turned her gaze to his lips before blushing and looking back out the window. How did he manage to play her heart strings so well? He wasn’t even doing anything!

“Yeah. It would have been nice to be able to share this view with others with cared about.”

“Like Adrien?”, Luka’s quiet voice came to her. It wasn’t judging, it wasn’t even angry or jealous. It just sounded…sad. 

Marinette felt her breath hitch in her throat. Of all the conclusions he could have come to, Luka had mistakenly thought she wanted to spend time on the Ferris Wheel with Adrien Agreste. Luka Couffaine had made a mistake! An error. For the first time in all the while she had known him. And now he thought she was playing with his feelings again.

“No…I-I said that wrong. I don't even like him anymore! I..”, she leaned forward. _Now_ , she had to kiss him now, before he got any more wrong ideas.

The bluenette leaned forward to kiss him, stretching to cut the distance across them. They were less than a feet apart.

“Don’t do that.”, Luka said suddenly, his eyes trained on her.

Her heart stuttered and she leaned back like she’d been shocked by electricity. His eyes softened as he leaned towards her.

“Don’t force yourself.”, he whispered.

Marinette took in a deep breath. Why was he like this? Caring for her feelings above his own. She wasn’t forcing herself.

“I want to.”, she said it softer than she intended to but she was sure he heard her.

"Give yourself some time.", Luka said. "You don't owe me anything for caring about you."

Marinette blinked. She didn't have time for this. But no matter how lonely she felt she couldn't force her feelings onto him. "Okay."

If he didn't like her anymore then what could she do?

"I don't think you get what I'm trying to say Marinette.", he said, making her look at him, "I can see you’re not ready. There are too many things happening in your life right now. I can see it in the dark circles beneath your eyes. You didn’t need to come if you were so tired, it wouldn’t have taken anything to reschedule.” Luka’s fingers softly rubbed the skin beneath her eyes, her make up must have faded at some point. “I know what happened. I was there. You’re doing good. Lila Rossi may have brought you down back then, but look at you now. You’re stronger than ever, all you need to do is relax.”

She had been so tired. The recent attacks had sapped away her strength faster than her summer projects and horrible time management.

“It’s hard. Ever since College it’s been hard. They never left, and I was never abandoned but I couldn’t help but feel alone. Lila had put this idea in everyone’s mind and I couldn’t help but feel that they were judging me. And then F-“, Marinette stopped herself before she could tell about her Fu had made her the guardian and reveal her superhero identity to Luka, “A-and then my friends slowly weren’t as close to me as they once had been. I’m not ungrateful because Alya was by my side, Nino always played songs I liked when we hung out. Adrien slowly became a better friend and I grew closer to Kagami. One day, even Chloe started acting nice…. Is it wrong that when Lila suddenly left I felt happy while all my friends were sad?”

“No. She was a liar that fooled a lot of people. You tried to warn them, but they didn’t listen. This isn’t the best ending to your battle but with how miserable you were I think it’s good enough that she left.”

“A part of me is scared she’ll come back and turn the few people I have against me..”, Marinette closed her eyes and leaned against the window. How did it come down to this? She was supposed to have a good time and maybe end up with Luka if he wanted to. She’d just ruined the mood.

“She won’t. She couldn’t before, she won’t be able to if she ever comes back. If she does, I’ll chase her away with my guitar.”

“What will you do, sing so bad her ears bleed?”, Marinette cracked a smile and looked at him.

“I was thinking of beating her to death with Juleka’s old electric guitar.”, He said with a smile of his own.

The idea of Luka running around after Lila, threatening to beat her up with Juleka’s old purple and black guitar with unicorn stickers on it seemed hilarious enough for Marinette to start laughing. Peels of laughter came out of her before she could stop them.

Once she was done she breathed in deep. Gods, it had been so long since she’d told someone her fears. She couldn’t tell Alya, and she didn’t want to bother her parents with something unrelated to them. Chat Noir was out of the question and she wasn’t quite close enough to Adrien to tell him that. Kagami had been busy and Chloe had a few bad memories about Lila and she didn’t want to stir up muddy water.

Luka’s eyes twinkled and he sat back in silence. “Want to tell me your more recent troubles.”

“You sure you don’t want to go into therapy Luka?”, Mairnette teased.

“I just don’t want to see you suffer.”

Sometimes Luka did things without knowing how much they affected her. Or maybe he did know…

Marinette was tempted to spill, to rant, to get rid of the burden on her chest, but she couldn’t.

“Just stress from University. There are soo many deadlines and…”

“And you feel lonely.”

“Not exactly…”, She had Tikki and Chat, Alya, Kagami, Chloe, Nino and even Luka, “I just need a break. I’ve been having nightmares recently.”

Lies, but believable lies.

Luka looked at her and she was convinced he didn’t believe her. “Want to tell me about those?”

“…no.”, She hoped he didn’t take offence.

If he did, he didn’t show it. Luka had always had one of the best poker faces Marinette had ever seen. He rarely expressed himself. Only in the right company and place. “Understandable. But, if it bothers you so much you should talk to someone about it. It helps.”

Marinette nodded and they sat in silence for a few moments.

"Why do you like me?", she asked. It was something she always wondered about. She's fallen for Adrien and his kind heart, Chat Noir's undying loyalty and Luka's selflessness. What had Luka found in her?

Luka’s response took a minute. Like he was pondering what exactly to say. Marinette envied him for being confident enough to breathe in and decide before speaking, unlike her who always spoke too fast and messed up.

"At first I was just grateful to the girl that helped my sister with her photo curse. Then I respected the girl and her dedication to help her friends, even help her crush get together with his crush. After that, I fell for her bravery. Over time...I forgot what made me like me like her in the first place because I kept finding new things that just completed her. Her messy flaws, her cute smile: both her good and bad had my heart racing like a race car. At one point there stopped being reasoned and only feelings."

Marinette felt her heart skip a beat. She smiled and looked up at him. Her heart felt like it was burning and she was sure she was near tears, but for one moment it felt like she could finally see what was hurting her all along.

**~*~**

The ride ended soon after and then the two of them made their way home. Luka parked his bike at the park near her house. Marinette got off and stood next to him a for a few seconds. She didn't want this night to end 

“Stay safe.”, Marinette whispered and let her hand linger on his shoulder. “Good night.”

“Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”, he said with a smile of his own.

“You dork!”, she laughed and walked away. There was a new lightness in her heart.

She was halfway to the street when Luka called out, she turned to see him with a rather frantic look on his face jogging to her.

“Yeah?”

Luka looked at her for a few seconds before softly putting his hand around hers and pulling it to his lips. He laughed awkwardly as she blushed to the roots of her hair. “Almost forgot to be a gentleman.”, he explained as he winked and walked back to his motorbike.

“Oh please, you’re anything but a gentleman!”, Marinette finally said after stuttering for a bit.

Luka gave her a wave of the hand before disappearing down the street.

Tikki chuckled next to her ear and she grumbled. Marinette walked into her house, greeting her parents before claiming she wanted to sleep. She changed and lay down on her bed.

“I don’t envy you for the call you’ll be getting from Alya tomorrow.”, Tikki sighed softly.

“I don’t envy me either, Tikki.”, Marinette said and stuffed her face in her pillow.

“Oh she’s calling right _now_.”, Tikki said and hovered over Marinette’s phone, which was vibrating soundlessly.

“No.”, Marinette weakly groaned before hiding under her blanket.

“I don’t understand humans. Does the blanket have magic properties to protect them?”, Kaalki asked and sat down.

“Beats me.”, Xuppu said and shrugged. The both of them tensed when Marinette shrieked.

“Damn it, I have a meeting with Chat Noir right now!”

The woman transformed and jumped out of her window. Kaalki and Xuppu waited in the silence. One day, they’d understand human kind, but not tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you love me you'll leave a kudos.  
> If you don't you'll leave review.
> 
> Hehe
> 
> Tan Legend  
> over and out~


	11. Ch 9: A new decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> GUYS THIS IS IMPORTANT! READ THE FERRIS WHEEL SCENE OF THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER (CHAPTER 8) AGAIN. I made some changes.

Ch 9

Chat Noir paced the length of the Arc De Triomphe feeling little guilt over putting his feet on the monument. He’d danced on top of the Eiffle tower and done parkour all over the Parisian rooftop, in comparison, walking on the Arc De Triomphe felt like stealing a lollipop from a robber.

His mind kept replaying the words Bunnyx had told him yesterday. He’d managed to stuff it to the back of his mind other than mentioning it to his father but now that he was transformed as Chat Noir again and going to meet Ladybug, he couldn’t help but think about it.

His secret would get out? Who would find out? How many? What would they do with it? In the best case scenario it would be Ladybug, who could be convinced more easily than anyone else.

The summer wind greeted him and warmed him but couldn’t stop him from imagining the chill he felt at the idea of his family’s secret getting out. The sky was a dark moonless abyss that stretched on forever, studded with shining diamonds.

He raised his wrist and glanced at it, forgetting he didn’t have a watch before pulling out his baton instead. Ladybug was late. Not having anything else to do, he sat down and opened up Alya’s latest video. It was their battle from yesterday.

Alya’s voice kept commenting every few minutes and Nino wasn’t heard even once. The video quality was better than years ago when Hawkmoth was active.

_“A new Miraculous holder seems to be fighting next to Chat Noir while Ladybug is down. Oh look at that skill. Has she perhaps been secretly trained by our two heroes before her debut?” Alya was obviously talking about Nyx, who the camera had zoomed into._

_“And another spectacular win for our heroes. Oh wait- seems like the latest heroine is going off on her own. Chat Noir is running after her.” Then Alya came running towards where he and Ladybug were in the video, the camera nearing the both of them, “Ladybug! Ladybug who-”_

_His lady raised her hand and waved it in a sign to ask Alya for patience. She used her Lucky Charm and then the both of them waved and left_. The video ended seconds later.

His ears detected Ladybug’s footsteps before she took a huge leap and made it to the Arch De Triomphe in one swing.

“Sorry for being late. I forgot all about today.”, Ladybug said and stood next to him.

There was a tired smile on her face, was it because she had a tiring day or because she had rushed to meet up with him? He reckoned it was both. Her red suit, which glimmered pink when the moonlight hit it at certain angles, defined her hunched back. Her hands were at her hips, propping up her upper torso, as though without them she’d keel over. But even then, there was this brightness in her eyes. Those orbs that usually shone like a clear sky, now glittered like sapphires. Something good must have happened with her.

“Forget about me, Milady? How paw-ful.”, Chat said and pouted.

“Sorry, partner. I had a tiring day.”

“But it was good for you.”, Chat said and further explained when Ladybug sent him a confused expression. “You look better. Happier.”

“Yes.”, her eyes grew tender, “I met up with an old friend I haven’t talked to in a long time.”

Chat smiled. Meeting up with an acquaintance always gave you a happy feeling, like the times he met his cousin Felix after almost months or even years of distance. Felix had been immersed in his studies for some years now studying to take over the family business like him, not that he was any less mischievous.

“That’s nice.”, he said.

Ladybug nodded. “Anyways, back to business. According to the Book of Miraculouses, we need to perform a ritual. We will have to go to a Temple of Miraculous. There’s only one we can go to, the Guardian Temple of Tibet.”

“Marianne co-owns it now doesn’t she?”, Chat said to himself rather than her.

The Guardian Temple in Tibet had emerged a few years back after he and Ladybug had defeated a Senti-Monster born of Fu’s hunger almost a century ago. Any and all Miraculous had been excavated and stored away by Guardians of other branches. After that, Marianne had bought the Tibet Temple of Guardians and while she didn’t have full authority on it she had as much power over it as the delegate sent from the Main Temple. As she had once been the wielder of the Bee Miraculous and Fu’s lover, who was the temple’s only surviving member, she had quite a strong hold on its claim, but Chat was still surprised she’d managed to acquire it.

The Tibet Temple was the second largest Guardian temple but now was used as a resort. Any signs of its previous attachment to the world of Miraculous had been removed. Any secret exits and passages sealed off and triple locked. The underground sacred chambers were kept intact but locked even more thoroughly than everything else.

The last he’d heard from Marianne she’d told them they were free to stay over any time. Unluckily, Fu was no closer to reviving his memories. She’d failed to find anything to help her lover.

“There is a secret chamber in every temple, only accessible by the worthy holders of Miraculous. That’s what worries me. If any of us is not fully true to our cause, they might not get an upgrade. Our enemies are stronger this time. The new Hawkmoth and Vrishin Raja haven’t even used their powers yet. Nyx helped us once, but she said it was temporary. We can’t fail Chat. We can’t.”, Ladybug looked worried.

In that moment, Chat saw almost all the happiness she had gained that day dissolve into the wind. In the face of the threat Paris was facing, he thought she was as strong as ever, but something had changed years ago and still haunted her now. She managed to push it back and found happiness again somehow. A few years ago, she’d stopped chasing after that boy she said she loved, she’d stopped laughing for a while too. She wasn’t the same Ladybug he’d fallen for. Her confidence had taken a beating somewhere and she was still trying to hold it together. Sometimes, her eyes looked haunted and worn out. It lasted for a year, then slowly, after Hawkmoth disappeared, she turned back to normal.

She laughed one day, and joked a few weeks later. Soon enough, she was as confident as she had been and slowly that confidence had helped her grow. She had been a wilting flower but then slowly gotten back to full strength. Chat couldn’t have felt more relieved. He couldn’t explain why he suddenly hugged her or why he smiled at her goofily when she questioned his weird behaviour.

Now, It was slowly creeping back. He’d tried to ignore it and apparently she was still ignoring it. But those icy fingers still lingered over her shoulders, ready to push her down into ice water again.

“We won’t LB. We won’t lose. We haven’t till now and I know neither you nor I are making to start anytime soon.”, He held her hand softly.

Ladybug smiled and placed her other hand over his, “Thanks Chaton.” She took in a breath and then spoke, “You’re worried about me aren’t you?”

Chat sighed. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before letting go of his breath and opening his eyes once again. “For one second, you reminded of how you had been years ago.”

Ladybug looked towards the near invisible horizon. The faraway look in her eyes told him that she was pondering something. “I should tell you about it, huh?”

Chat didn’t know what she was talking about but was ready to hear anything she had to say. “If you want.”

Ladybug sat down next to him. Chat watched her as she did. She looked towards the invisible horizon again, collecting her thoughts maybe.

“Years ago, when I was in college, I had a lot of friends and all was going well but one day a new girl came and she was _vicious_. She was an attention seeking, compulsive liar. She made up tall tales and took advantage of my friends by promising them connections to people of fame for…favours. Anyone could see through her lies, they were as ridiculous as stating Jagged Stone had a kitten.”

This sounded familiar to Chat, like how Lila had been. He couldn’t help but chuckle when he heard Ladybug’s last few words, “ _Jagged Stone_ having a _kitten_? Doesn’t he have fur allergies?”

“Exactly!”, Ladybug said, “Any of them, at any time could see the holes in her lies clear as day but they didn’t! And when I warned them, they called me _jealous_ because she _apparently_ had the attention of my crush and that was making me hostile towards her. Even my best friend didn’t believe me. Then that lying... _vixen_ threatened me in the girls’ washroom. She stated she would take all my friends away from me. Then she started doing a lot of stuff that hurt me like framing me for theft, cheating on tests and even spreading lies about me.”

Chat placed his hand on her arm, she placed her own palm over his. He could feel her heat transferring to him and it brought him comfort, he hoped she could feel his and be comforted by it too.

Ladybug sighed and clamed a little, “The next year my friends slowly lost trust in me. They didn’t ostracize me or bully me but I couldn’t help but feel alone. They believed this liar over me. I had been their classmate for years, I’d always helped them even putting my own health at risk. I know sometimes I decided to take more than I can chew when it comes to helping people, but I can’t stop it! I was there for them, but were they there for me? I don’t know if I’m overreacting-”

“You’re not.”

Ladybug smiled and continued, “I felt betrayed. I had always been a bit alone. I had very few close friends and the ones I made, I had just lost. So I slowly became sadder. I wasn’t depressed but I wasn’t happy either. I had my duties as Ladybug and later they became even more when I became the Guardian. Not only that, I was also trying to find out about first love and other such things. Added with pressures of keeping up grades, working for my dreams and everything; I felt burdened. Luckily, there were people who didn’t give a shit what that liar had to say. There were also a few that didn’t believe she was lying but knew I was better than her lies. There was you, and Al- uh, a friend, another friend and one more friend and a not really friend but a very intuitive person.”

Chat smiled, “Seems like you had a lot of good people by your side.”

“I did.”, a small gentle smile graced her face before turning serious, “ Then one day, the liar left. Suddenly, in the middle of the school year. Slowly everything went back to normal. My classmates started behaving as they always did, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was temporary. I slowly decided to leave behind those bad memories and walk forward but the recent stress has been getting to me.”

Chat remained silent for a few seconds. “Why are you telling me this?”

Ladybug sighed, “I met up with an old ‘friend’ -uh- recently, and he told me I needed to tell someone my problems. I decided to tell you because you’re my partner, you deserve to know.”

“I’m honoured.”

Ladybug smiled and hugged him. Chat Noir hugged her back, holding her smaller frame within his. When she pulled back she looked better. The wind rustled their hair and the longer strands of her hair started to float. “There are a few problems.”

Chat frowned, “What’s wrong?”

“The Upgrade ritual only works on the night of a new moon, and it should be occur directly above the quadrant where the Guardian Temple is. The earliest new moon over Tibet is in approximately six months, but we can’t wait that long.”

“Which means…?”

“It means we’ll have to use both the Horse Miraculous and Rabbit Miraculous.”

“Milady, what? Bunnyx just told us-”

“I know, but what other choice do we have Chat?”, Her eyes were narrowed in worry and he could see the fear in her eyes.

“Maybe we could try the High Temple, it’s better than going against the advice of a time traveller.”

“You don’t really mean that? Have you forgotten what happened in New York?”

Chat swallowed. Memory wiping, that is what the High Temple did when any Miraculous holders went to them with a problem or if they disapproved something. That is what had happened in New York. The High Temple had been very displeased that Jess, the wielder of the Eagle Miraculous, had managed to convince the Guardian of the American Miraculous Box to distribute more Miraculous. In one fell swoop, they erased memories of all Miraculous Wielders of New York except for the Guardian of the American Miraculous Box, who was now being kept under supervision.

The wielders then forgot everything about the Miraculous, including their fellow wielders. It had been a day of sadness for the two heroes when Uncanny Valley told them that Jess didn’t remember them anymore no matter how hard she tried. They had grown close over the course of three years and were pained to lose a friend.

“No, of course I-I don’t… want that!”, Chat said.

If the High Temple resorted to that in Paris then he would forget Ladybug. Not to mention, he would lose all the progress he had made with his father. Gabriel would most likely forget Nathalie and still mourn the loss of his mother or he might even forget Emelie, who had been the previous wielder of the Peacock Miraculous. Adrien himself could forget his mother. Alya, Nino, Chloe and Kagami were in the same boat, he would forget them as well, he would alone again. “We cannot let that happen.”, he told Ladybug, who nodded slowly.

The both of them stood in silence. The crickets started to sing again and then allowed silence to take over.

“What else have you deciphered?”, He asked her.

“We will need one wielder to watch over us while we perform the ritual, their job is a bit important.”

“What exactly does the Ritual entail?”

“I’ll tell you before we leave, it’s a bit long so I’d rather do it at the end. Is that fine?”, at Chat Noir’s nod Ladybug continued, “I’ve decided that Chloe will wield the Horse Miraculous and watch over us while we perform the ritual.”

“Chloe?”

“She’s improved.”

Chat Noir knew that Chloe had redeemed herself. She had apologised in more ways than one to everyone she had ever wronged. He was glad that even his Lady had noticed this.

“Then…since time doesn’t matter, when will we be performing the ritual?”

“Next week, Saturday.”, Ladybug said. “Our excuse is a camping trip.”

“A camping trip?”

“A camping trip.”

“Will that be necessary?”, Chat wondered why so many days would be needed if they were just going to use time travel and space travel at the same time.

“The ritual could take 3-4 days, we’ll need to rest after it because of energy and magical changes. I want all of us to be together when that happens.”

Chat was truly curious about the ritual and what it would entail. He was also really worried, Bunnyx had specifically told them not to use the Rabbit Miraculous, but here they were, ready to use it as soon as a day after she’d warned them. He looked towards the sky, soaking in the dark night. This might be the hardest character arc of his life.

**~*~**

Chloe enjoyed sitting on her terrace every Saturday night watching some movie all alone with only food she had cooked with her own hands. Yes, she cooked and though she wasn’t the best cook there was something very satisfying about eating food she had made herself.

She felt the wind rustle and a something in her gut told her to open her eyes, just as she heard a voice as sweet as spring, “Chloe.”

For a second she almost confused Ladybug as Marinette, their voices sounded similar, but seeing the Red and Black heroine right in front of her, moonlight highlighting every part of her tight suit made her dismiss the thought as soon as it came.

She swallowed, trying not to show how much the presence of her first crush still affected her.

“Ladybug!”, lords, why did her voice sound so breathless, she liked Kagami now!

“I’d heard you’d grown. Long-time, no see.”, the heroine said.

“Yeah. You were the one to knock it into my head. You and…Dupain-Cheng.”, Chloe smiled softly.

“Well, I’m glad because I’ll be needing your help for some time.”, Ladybug’s soft smile was enough to send Chloe’s heart aflutter. She fought to hold back her blush.

“Is this about the new wielders of the Peacock and Butterfly villains?”

“In a sense, yes.”

Chloe wasn’t sure how she’d be able to help Ladybug, but if her idol needed it she would provide assistance whatever she could.

“Finally decided Queen Bee is needed again?”, Chloe said haughtily before laughing to show she was just joking.

She knew she wasn’t worthy to wield the Miraculous of the Bee or any Miraculous, but a small part of her hoped that she would once again get to feel the wind of open skies in her hair, that she could jump in such a way that it felt like flying.

“No.”, Ladybug’s voice didn’t hold any judgement in it. It was just a feeling-less stating.

“Oh.”, Chloe didn’t know how to react, Ladybug’s voice sounded so blunt. She took a peak and saw Ladybug’s eyes. She was startled to see that they looked…fearful. Chloe was at a loss, but when Ladybug noticed she’d seen her she put on a smile.

“I need you to do something else for me.”

“Okay.”, Chloe couldn’t help but feel intimidated standing in front of Ladybug.

“Can you keep a secret?”, Ladybug asked in the most serious tone Chloe had ever heard her use.

Could she keep a secret? Guard it with her life? This was her chance to prove herself wasn’t it? To prove that she had changed for the better. The blond woman nodded.

Ladybug’s replying smile was so breath taking it almost knocked the wind out of her lungs. It was secretive and sweet. So trusting and familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on who had given her that smile before. Who had sent her heart fluttering like a thing with wings?

“In a week’s time. We’ll be going on a camping trip.”, Ladybug said. “It’ll be you, me, Chat Noir and the three other Miraculous wielders.”

“I don’t understand.”, Chloe said, “Why do you need me there?”

“I need you to wield a Miraculous for me and keep the happenings of the next three days a secret, can you do that for me? I promise I’ll only trouble you with this once.”, Ladybug promised, she seemed a little upset at herself, like she thought she’d made a bad decision.

“Ladybug…it would be an honour.”, The Mayor’s daughter was near tears. Ladybug trusted her enough to give her a miraculous, even if it was only for an occasion.

Ladybug looked relieved and at the same time worried, “It could endanger you.”

“I’m ready to face the consequences.”

“Then I’ll tell you the location by tomorrow. Please be ready to make a lone trip to some place where you will meet up with some acquaintances.”, Ladybug said. “You are free to choose to hide or reveal your identity.”

“I’ll be there, Ladybug.”

“Then…I’ll get going. Good night Chloe.”, Ladybug turned to leave.

Chloe watched the heroine, she felt like there was something she had to do. She rushed towards the red and black woman before she could swing away.

“Ladybug, wait!”, she said.

Ladybug turned, crouching and gazed at her with frantic eyes before her they darted around as though she was on high alert, looking to see if there was anyone hidden in the shadows. “Chloe? What is it?”

Chloe reached up on her tip toes and almost tackled the heroine off her perch with a hug.

“Oh.”, the heroine said and then hugged her back after a second of stillness.

“I never said sorry for all the things I did back then so, I’m sorry. And…thank you.”, the last word came out almost too soft to hear, she was afraid that Ladybug hadn’t heard it, but a soft chuckle told her that she had been heard.

“You’ve truly changed.”, Ladybug mused and stroked her head.

Chloe moved away quickly and faked being her younger self, “Moi? I haven’t changed at all. I’m still as pretty and smart as ever.”

“You always were Chlo -uh- e. Chloe!”, Ladybug almost called her ‘Chlo’, the blond woman had to stop herself from swooning.

“I’m grateful.”, Chloe said with a smile.

“Good night Chloe.”, Ladybug said with a smile of her own before swinging away.

Chloe watched her disappear into the night: a flash of red that dissolved into maroon then transformed into black. Left alone on the roof top, Chloe smiled up at the moon and then did her happy dance.

**~*~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tan Legend  
> over and out~


	12. Ch 10: To Tibet they go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go to Tibet. That's it. That's all it's about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I wrote a Christmas special that features Chloe as the main character. Go check it out if you want something different, though I will edit its second chapter sometime.

Ch 10

Alix watched the Heroine of luck swing away, leaving her alone in the dark comfort of her room. Her short meeting at midnight had left her startled. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to believe the events that had happened or think of them as a dream. She pinched herself a few times, yep she was definitely awake.

_“We’ll be needing you Alix Kubdel.”, Ladybug said determinedly._

_“Why. What is so important you need to use the power of time?”, Alix had asked. She wondered if Ladybug thought that her words sounded too revised, like she’d practiced them. She had and it wouldn’t do for the heroine of luck to know._

_Ladybug didn’t notice, maybe because she hadn’t expected questions like such. Maybe a ‘finally’ or a ‘why now?’ but something that questioned the root of her reasoning? Maybe she hadn’t expected Alix to think so much. Jocks had a certain stereotype about them that made others think they didn’t question things, when the opposite was true. They questioned too many things, and that limited their wonder for the worls, so they just learned to live on adrenaline. Adrenaline, which enhanced instincts over logics; adrenaline, that made anything seems possible._

_Ladybug’s response left her even more stunned, but Alix had nothing if not one of the best poker faces in her college when she wanted to use it. The only competition was the three girls in their final year and Luka Couffaine but that was beside the point._

When the heroine left her words her words repeated themselves inside Alix’s mind. The context of her words didn’t surprise her much. No, not much, it didn’t surprise her at all. In comparison to what it meant that she actually said them. That this series of events was actually happening.

For a second there was a flash of light that flooded her room then ebbed away and disappeared, like someone had opened and closed a door at super speed. It alerted Alix of the new presence in her room.

“So?”, the newcomer said. There was a sense of smugness in it that the red haired woman was all too familiar with.

“So, fuck.”, was Alix’s only response as she sat down on her bed and tried to process what she had to do.

**~*~**

Bunnyx, aged 20, sucked in a tired breath as she stepped out the portal for the first time in her life. At least, it should be the first for her timeline’s Alix. Uh-oh, time travel was already making things complicated. She shook her head in an attempt to clear the idea from her head, it worked because she instead noticed something that made her worried.

She was next to a huge building that looked like it had been built of stone and wood. It was grey, green, red and grown. She glanced around and noticed that she was in a parking lot of sorts, with snow bikes parked around her. A look towards the sky told her the bulb that brightened billions of lives was slowly dimming. Were they late?

The entire Ritual worked on a schedule that revolved around the eclipse. If they couldn’t see the sun it would most likely mean that they’d missed the right time and mess up the whole plan.

She worriedly glanced at the sky and quickly led five other Heroes through the time portal. It glowed a beautiful blue, just like it did in her dreams. It didn’t stop her from feeling guilty that she’d messed up the time.

First she brought through Viperion, the Snake Miraculous wielder. He was 6 feet of lean maleness and composure. Mint green eyes that kind of looked glassy if you gazed into them too long, black hair that was very familiar interspersed with minty and teal streaks and a full suit that looked like teal, white and mint scales.

The next to come through the portal was the wielder of the Horse Miraculous, Alicorn. A woman with witty comebacks that suddenly morphed into humbleness the next second. She was a contradiction of sorts. She had flowing silver hair and a suit of black and silver. She excused herself the moment she came through and quickly went into the nearby toilet before her timer gave way to her identity.

After her came Chat Noir, who winked as soon as he came through. He was taller but seemed thinner in comparison to the snake hero. HiiHis golden locks glittered as snow fell to kiss him and he looked oddly out of place in the snow with his black suit. He started talking to both present heroes about the weather immediately.

Shinryu, a stoic woman with a rare but beautiful smile walked through with more confidence than the rest of them. Her suit of red, black and gold was only so different from Ladybug’s. Her golden, eyes were definitely lizard like and made her eyes look as though they were constantly smiling.

Ladybug was last to come. The Hero of luck walked into the future with enough confidence for the rest of the unsure ones. She stretched when she made it through and Viperion, Shinryu and Chat gathered around her.

“Ladybug.”, Bunnyx said noticing how the hero looked first at the sky and then whipped out her yoyo and opened its screen. She paused to look at the taller woman. Bunnyx’s gaze met her sky blue eyes, “I’m sorry. I think we’re too late.”

The Rabbit hero’s timer beeped in her ears frantically, signalling that she only had a minute left.

“Wait a sec.”, Ladybug said and typed furiously on her yoyo. Bunnyx was well aware that she could just time travel again to a few hours earlier, but she couldn’t help but feel ashamed.

“Aa-ha!”, Ladybug said in triumph. All heroes turned to look at her. “We’re not late. We’re early. A day early.”

The red-haired hero felt relief slowly warm her body, fighting against the cold monsoon of Tibet.

“You should go and retransform.”, Chat suggested nodded towards a public toilet in the parking lot.

Bunnyx shivered and walked into the external bathroom stall. It was snowing in Tibet and their suits weren’t strong enough for one of the coldest places in the world. The inside of the bathroom stall didn’t stop the infernal cold from seeping into her bones when she de-transformed.

“Is it dinner time? Or lunch time? Was it yesterday yesterday or the day before?”, Fluff spoke animatedly as she floated around. She didn’t look as though she’d lost any energy at all.

 _‘Lunatics never follow the laws of common sense.’_ , Alix thought to herself before giving the white mini-god a mini carrot.

Fluff didn’t thank her or acknowledge her before swallowing it whole. Alix wondered how the creature’s tiny body could hold a carrot her size. It definitely didn’t make sense. She was also bamboozled by the fact that she would come to like Fluff’s company. The Mini-god didn’t make any sense half of the time.

“Would like to take more time? We have that a plenty.”, Fluff said in a sing song voice.

Alix looked into the Demi-god’s eyes and felt a sense of craziness in those energetic blue face balls. For a moment she was lost in her thoughts. Then she blinked and she was back in the bathroom stall, cold freezing her muscles, her chest heavy. “No. Let’s not waste any more time.”, she said before transforming again.

The rest of the team was waiting for her when she opened the door and walked over to them. A second later, the Horse Miraculous’s new holder came out from the opposing bathroom.

Bunnyx stood in a circle with the five others of the team. Around them the world slowly succumbed to the cold and went to sleep. The sun let go of the sky and the moon took her rightful place in the night sky. Orange morphed to purple with started to blend into inky blue.

“Alright, everyone’s here now?”, Ladybug said lifting her eyes away from the screen of her yoyo. “Marianne will be letting us in any minute now. We can’t walk in from the front because we’re dressed up as heroes and shouldn’t try to get more attention than possible.”

“We have ground rules kids.”, Chat Noir said, “First of all is to never be out of Mommy’s line of sight.” He motioned towards Ladybug who huffed in annoyance while everyone laughed.

“And you can have all the fun you want with Daddy.”, He winked and motioned to himself.

“Yeah right.”, Ladybug said but didn’t hide her smile but it slipped from her face for a second as though she’d remembered something.

Bunnyx felt confused as Ladybug, a second later, sent a quick glance at Viperion that went unnoticed by everyone else.

“But in all seriousness we do have a few rules.”, Ladybug said when she got her composure back.

“Yes. First off all, do not go to places where others would be. As in, normal citizens. Secondly, always be with another member of Team Miraculous- that is us.”, Chat gestured to all those gathered.

“Thirdly. No trying to read news or any events. The future is to remain a mystery to us. Fourthly, try to stay transformed as much as you can to decrease chances of finding out each other’s identities.”, Ladybug said.

“That is the most important one.”, Chat said and continued with the third rule. “Only de-transform in the safety of your rooms or when you will be guaranteed solitude.”

Ladybug and Chat Noir looked behind the rest of them with a smile. Bunnyx felt Viperion shift next to her. She got ready to follow his gaze only to be interrupted.

“And that’s it, other than that you can enjoy the amenities of the Resort. Complement of Marianne. ”, a voice called out to them from behind them.

Bunnyx turned around to see a short woman with hair as white as snow leaning against an open door.

“Marianne.”, Ladybug said happily and slowly made her way to the woman.

She stumbled only to have Chat help her, “Sorry bugs don’t do well in the cold.”, she said before hurrying over to the woman.

She bent to hug her.

“It’s been long.”

“Of course it is, child. You never come to visit.”, Marianne said in mock scolding before turning to hug the tall Chat Noir. “I received your message. It was nice to hear you’d finally come over.”

Bunnyx walked over to the woman with the rest of the heroes.

“Come in.”, she said kindly, gesturing to the huge open threshold.

Bunnyx was surprised by how ancient and beautiful the interiors looked. The floor felt warm and had so many rugs she could hardly see it. The walls were curtained by tapestries almost everywhere. There were tables and thick mats and many more furniture of Eastern Asian culture. Everything looked like it had been pulled out of the ancient times.

“Dad would kill to research this.”, The woman with red hair muttered under her breath.

Bunnyx looked at the pillars with symbols on them. She leaned forward to touch them, feeling the grooves that had been made when they’d been carved in.

“They’re enchanted so that only people of the Order of Miraculous can see them. Anyone else would not notice them.”, a soft old voice said. “It’s centuries old magic.”

Then she noticed the old man in the corner. He was even shorter than Marianne, but looked more in theme with the décor in clothing that looked Chinese.

“Master Fu.”, Chat Noir smiled at the short man.

Master Fu smiled and turned his attention away from Bunnyx and to the Cat hero, “Chat Noir, I can’t say I remember you.”

The both of them chuckled.

Bunnyx sent a questioning look at Shinryu and Alicorn. The Horse Miraculous wielder shrugged. None except for Ladybug, Chat Noir and the two elders seemed to understand the joke. But Ladybug didn’t look particularly pleased and Marianne had a sad smile on her face.

“Mas- Mister Fu.”, Ladybug’s voice was softer.

The man turned towards the woman in Red and Black. There was something in his eyes that Bunnyx couldn’t quite understand. Was it sadness? Guilt? Pity?

“Ladybug… Marianne has said that I owe you an apology.”, he said.

“I’m fine.”, Ladybug said with a slow shake of her head.

The air seemed solemn in that second. Bunnyx wracked her head for anything she could find out, but came up blank.

“Well,”, Marianne clapped her hands, “I suppose I should take you all to your rooms.”

“Yes please.”, Ladybug sent a smile to the woman.

The elderly lady led them through the hallways with Master Fu beside her. They both were definitely a couple. Bunnyx gazed in awe at the high ceilings and every room that they passed.

She whistled, “Nice place you have here.”

“That’s a gross understatement and I’m ashamed to stand next to you because of it.”, Alicorn spoke up, “It’s part of the top ten Oriental Resorts on the Earth. It won the Asian Resorts Federation’s Best Five Star Vote twice in a row as soon as it was opened. It’s won several other rewards, but the one I mentioned is considered the most prestigious and only really given every three and a half years. This is the highest class you can get when it comes to resorts in the category of Cultural appreciation and other things.”

Everyone stopped and stared at the woman with silver hair.  
“What?”, Alicorn asked Shinryu, who gave the most weighted stare of them all.

“You just reminded of someone I know.”, the Dragon Miraculous wielder said.

“Then she must have good taste.”, Alicorn said with a nod.

“She does.”, Ryukko allowed the smallest of smiles to grace her lips.

Marianne laughed, “You make it sound like I did everything. I’m no genius. All of this is genuine. Made by Monks centuries ago to guard the Miraculous and nurture future wielders.”

“It isn’t hard to believe that this was once a temple of Order of Miraculouses.”, Ladybug agreed.

Bunnyx wrinkled her nose while trying to shift through her brain for information, but she came short. A look at the rest of new Miraculous holders told her they were as lost as she was.

“The Order of Miraculous is a group of temples that guards and protects the Miraculous and its wielders. The High Temple is at the apex of this organisation, but it uses the most ruthless method to bring peace and balance. They use the most evil method to get a good ending.”, Chat Noir supplied to the rest of the wielders when he noticed her face.

“Why haven’t they interfered in Paris yet then?”, Shinryu asked.

“We don’t know, maybe they can’t be bothered to interfere. The scale of chaos is only limited to a city so they likely do not care. Plus, we haven’t gone to them for help and we won’t. The last time they interfered they wiped the memory of dozens of people. It was horrible.”, Ladybug said defensively.

It was obvious that Ladybug and Chat Noir had thought of this a lot and both held disgust towards the High Temple.

“It was the closest competitor to the High Temple. There are scrolls that tell it was once equal.”, Master Fu said continued talking about the Tibetan Temple.

Chat Noir sighed, “How much we need it be a competitor now.”

“Indeed the High Temple has grown corrupt with power.”, Master Fu agreed.

“Isn’t there a diplomat from the High Temple here?”, Ladybug asked as they started to walk again.

“Yes. A sourly man. He went to some place away just this morning. With the chances of a storm tonight it’s unlikely he’ll back till the day after. A good thing really, we won’t miss him much.”

“Ann dear, even the staff hates him. I wouldn’t be surprised if they arranged a transport that would break down in the middle for him.”, Master Fu said with a chuckle.

Bunnyx chuckled as well.

“Anyways. We will be walking using the secret passages since the basement is technically VIP suits for people here on Order of the Miraculous business and we don’t need any guests to see you here.”, Marianna said with a smile as they piled into a room.

The two elders walked to the painted wall and pressed down on certain points.

All the heroes gasped as the wall swung backwards like a door and showed a dark tunnel.

“An actual secret passageway!”, Chat Noir said excitedly.

“Is being a hero not interesting enough for you that you get excited at the thought of a passage?”, Alicorn asked with a wrinkled nose, gazing warily at the dark tunnel.

“Eh, being a hero became normal at some point.”, Chat said as they went into the passage.

Master Fu took out a torch with a bright light that lit up the entire tunnel.

Shinryu laughed, “Heroism is mundane to you?”

“It’s a pain, really.”, Ladybug said.

“It’s tiring finding excuses to give to friends and family as to why you suddenly go missing _every-time_ there’s and akuma attack.”, Chat supplied, the word ‘attack’ slightly echoed in the tunnel.

“And making excuses about why you’re late for class.”, Ladybug continued.

“And then Hawkmoth would sometimes make Akumas at night, those were as awful as morning ones. I need my beauty sleep or become catty.”, Chat Noir said.

“Don’t get me started on the all-nighters I pulled because he messed up my day schedule.”

“But you persevered and he disappeared.”, Marianne said.

“Could you tell us about that?”, Viperion asked softly from the background.

He was the most silent of them all.

“A-about what?”, Ladybug asked back.

“How he disappeared.”, Viperion clarified.

“He just did.”, Ladybug said after a beat of silence. “One day we were battling against a normal akuma. Not as powerful as the rest, but not weak either. It was the last time we were up against him or Mayura.”

“For the longest time we were weary. I was scared he would tur- I was scared he would come back.”, Chat said quickly.

Bunnyx looked at him with scrutiny, obviously he had been planning to say something else.

“But there was silence for weeks, then months. When it had been over a year we were still afraid he was just planning something big. That’s when Chat started to convince me he was gone forever.”

“There was silence for more than four years and then the new villains came.”, Chat finished.

“Nyx?”, Shinryu asked.

“We aren’t sure about her. She helped us once but warned that she wouldn’t do it again.”, Ladybug said.

“There are four others.”, Bunnyx said. She’d only thought of it but it somehow made it out of her mouth. Ladybug nodded.

“A new Hawkmoth, a new Peacock user called Vrishin Raja, a Scorpion Miraculous user called Serket and another one most likely called ‘Sol’. We know nothing about the last one.”, Chat Noir said.

His green eyes glinted eerily in Master Fu’s torch’s light. Bunnyx walked onwards, she was already aware of everything the two veteran heroes were telling, her informant had already told her about it all.

She was right behind Fu and Marianne and thus watched as they came across a dead end. The rest were listening to Ladybug and Chat Noir and weren’t paying attention. Fu motioned her to back up a little. She obliged.

Marianne started to feel the wall and stood on her tip toes to reach certain places before walking backwards to stand with her and Fu.

The time travel hero watched as the wall once again swung inwards and warm yellow light poured in.

All heroes made sounds of delight when they saw the room. It was a living room and looked like it had brought from history itself.

“Woah.”, Ladybug said as she gazed at the room.

Bunnyx agreed.

“This is your antechamber, all the rooms that are connected to it are yours. There’s one extra room because these come in pairs of seven.”, Master Fu said.

“It’s good that you’re here early. You all look like you need rest. Especially you.”, Marianne turned towards Ladybug.

“What? But I’m fine. Just peachy!”, Ladybug said.

“I know you haven’t had enough sleep.”, the ex Bee Miraculous wielder said. “I can see exhaustion when it’s so clear.”

“She has been very exhausted recently.”, Chat encouraged.

“I’m fine.”, Ladybug said weakly. “We need to be ready for the Upgrade Ritual.”

“I’ll handle it.”, Marianne said, “And Fu will help. We’ve read up more than you could imagine.”

“That’ll be nice.”, Chat said then turned to the Hero of luck, “You should get some rest M’Lady. I know you’ve not been doing so good ever since the new threats arrived.”

Everyone looked at the veteran Hero expectantly, but she didn’t budge.

“I’m alright. I just-”

“It’s okay Ladybug, we can learn somethings while you’re asleep.”, Alicorn said.

Bunnyx felt that the woman was very familiar but she couldn’t remember from where this familiarity stemmed. She knew how to deal with this behaviour. It was reminiscent of someone she knew.

“Yes. Rest is necessary. You will not be able to work at your full capacity if you aren’t well rested.”, Shinryu added gazing at the clock.

“You look like you need the chance to recover energy.”, Viperion quietly noted, leaning against a table.

“Yeah. We can’t have you crashing on us have way through the ritual.”, Bunnyx said with a smile.

“It’ll be a Cat-astrophy.”, Chat Noir said with a wink.

Ladybug sighed and Alicorn groaned at Chat’s pun. “I guess a full night’s sleep for once would be nice.”

Chat Nodded eagerly as Ladybug handed over a fat leather-bound book to him.

“Wake me up as soon as the sun rises and in case anything goes wrong or if you need any help.”

“Will do.”, Chat said as the same time as Alicron said, “Roger.”

Marianne gave Ladybug her key and the Hero went into her room to sleep.

“I shall prepare everything you need for tomorrow. You just need to ring the Service bell and leave the ingredients you have brought outside the suit. The ancillary will come and take it.”, Marianne said.

“But-”, Chat started.

“No buts. Relax a little, you have a journey and a long fight ahead of you. This is the least we can do.”, Marianne said.

“Alright.”, Chat conceded with a smile, “Thanks.”

“It’s a pleasure.”, Master fu said and then the both of them left.

“I don’t think I shall be able to go to sleep so soon.”, Shinryu said after a few minutes of silence, “I can’t rest easy in an unfamiliar environment.”

“Me neither, It’s not even seven.”, Alicron said looking at the simple wooden clock in the room.

“It’s best if we prepare for tomorrow.”, Viperion said. “I can show you how to meditate to increase focus if you want.”

“No way!”, Chat Noir said much to everyone’s surprise. “I have monopoly and we’re playing it.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Game on!”, Alicorn said, “I’m five time champion of game night when it comes to Monopoly.”

“I’d like to see you try to defeat me.”, Shinryu said with a challenging smile.

“Heh, let’s see who’s best shall we?”, Bunnyx said and all of them sat down to play the game.

She had a lot of work to do, might as well enjoy the little moments, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tan Legend  
> over and out~


	13. Ch 11: I don't know what to name this chapter so I'll name it later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, this chapter is late.  
> Luckily the next one is interesting.

Ch 11

Chat Noir didn’t know why he silently followed his partner to the roof. He didn’t know why he woke up the moment he sensed her presence like it had never left. He didn’t know why she was awake this late at night either.

He blinked and looked at his watch. The time was 1 in the morning. The soft footsteps of her retreating made him remember that if he planned to follow her now would be the time.

He quickly transformed into his hero self and followed her as she quickly and quietly slunk outside and used her yoyo to jump as high into the air as she could.

He stood in the snow for a second, wondering whether he should follow her or just go back and let her be alone. She’d obviously chosen not to go to him for anything. But then again, she hadn’t known he was awake either.

He sent one look back to the door that would take him back inside, but he did not plan to leave his Lady alone when she most probably needing someone to talk to.

Pulling out his baton, he quickly extended it and made his way up the once prestigious Miraculous Temple. When he made it up he hadn’t expected the red and black hero slumped against the wall, looking into the night.

The wind whistled and ruffled both their hairs and the snow softly floated down. The snow fall, if you could call the barest minimum of flakes falling down a snowfall, made the curve of her cheeks even paler. It highlighted her pale beauty, like she was meant to be in it.

Without his superior eyesight, he wouldn’t have been able to tell where her hair ended and the night began, the colours were too similar. As she turned to see him, her eyes widened and almost looked as pale as the moon that reflected in them.

“Hey, Milady.”, Chat said with a sheepish smile and an awkward laugh.

“C-Chat! What are you doing here?”, Ladybug asked. She looked pretty flustered.

“I was worried about you, so I followed you.”, Chat said, deciding to tell her the truth. If she still wanted him then she would ask him to stay, if not then he would respect her wishes and leave.

For a second, Ladybug’s eyes hardened and he was afraid that he’d said the wrong thing, but her eyes calmed as soon as they hardened.

“I’m glad that you decided to not lie.”

“I couldn’t follow you without you knowing and then lie about it.”

“I’m grateful kitty.”, she gave him a soft smile. It seemed that he had been forgiven for stalking her. She glared at him playfully. “But don’t even think about following me next time.

“I promise I won’t.”, Chat said solemnly. He wasn’t happy with the way he behaved, but he couldn’t regret it. Not when she might need him.

He stood next to her and the both of them stared at the scenery. The sky was dark, but the ground was layered with snow, snow which glinted white. The Black Cat hero watched as his breath fogged up the air in front of him. The super suit made him forget how truly their location was, he couldn’t even feel the sting of cold against his face as long as the magic of the miraculous protected him.

“Can I ask what you were thinking of doing here except for staring into the distance or are we going to start seeing the start of Bat-Lady.”

Ladybug chuckled before sobering, “I just needed some time to think, that’s all.”

“I wouldn’t say you’re lying but I don’t think all you need to do is think. Something’s worrying you, and I don’t think it’s the Ritual tomorrow.”

There was a beat of silence. The snow silently settled in place and the wind once again, was the only to speak. Emerald green eyes turned to look into skylight blue ones. Ladybug’s face was conflicted, like she was unsure of how much she wanted to tell, if she planned on telling the truth. Chat waited in the quiet as she searched for words.

“I’m scared Chat. I’m afraid.”

She finally mustered up the courage to speak, but it came out as a ghost of a whisper. He hardly heard her, if he didn’t have super hearing he doubt he would have.

“I’m _afraid_ I made the wrong choice. I’m afraid that _you_ will get hurt, that the new wielders will get _hurt_ , that the people I _love_ will get hurt.”

Chat wanted to say that she was wrong, that none of them would get hurt. He wanted to hug her and tell her that she’d made the right decisions. So he did.

With a small step forward he softly and slowly pulled her to him. Her chin reached his shoulder with ease and it reminded him that she was one of the taller ladies he interacted with.

“It’ll be alright. _We_ made the right decision.”

“I gave Alix the miraculous even when Bunnyx said not to and I brought more people into this fight.”

“It was necessary, for the good of everyone. We made them aware of the risks and what was at stake here, they accepted anyway. That is their decision.”

“Will it really be okay Chat?”, Ladybug asked softly.

“Yeah. Yeah it will.”, Chat knew that all she needed right now was to be told that she’d done it alright. She’d been the one to make the tough decisions, not him. He’d just followed along. Maybe with new heroes to teach, he’d finally have the time to step into the role as her equal and take a little bit of the burden off her shoulders.

They stood there for some times, allowing each other to keep their worries at bay.

**~*~**

The Parisian night was warm and uneventful, two figures stood on the Eiffel tower.

“They’ve gone somewhere.”, Serket growled. “I can’t sense them anywhere, not even the faintest sense. It’s like they don’t exist.”

Her partner quietly regarded her before giving a hum as a response. She didn’t appreciate it and sent him a glare before sitting on the edge of the Eiffel tower and de-transforming.

Her brown hair shortened to a sharp bob cut, bangs brushing her eyebrows. She turned to look at him. He gazed into emerald eyes, so sharp and bright her mother had the last laugh by naming them after poison. _Canterella._

Her lips weren’t pulled into a scowl anymore by the time Vrishin Raja made it to her side. As he sat down and de-transformed he breathed a sigh of relief.

The tips of his brown hair tickled his greyish-brown eyes and he swept them away with a graceful flick of his hand.

“Okay Prince Charming, focus.”, Canterella said.

“Alright.”, he said and silently listened to her.

“We need to make up some kind of plan before they come back. We have to catch them unaware.”

“And how shall we do that?”

“I’m still thinking about it.”

“They haven’t run away. From what we know about them, they’re making a plan. They’re levelling up.”

“Syon, come one. They can’t have gotten to know about it this early.”

“You’re forgetting that they w- _are-._ They _are_ the best of their time. They have managed to not catch the eyes of the High Temple in their entire time wielding the Miraculouses, something we couldn’t manage for even a month.”

His partner took on second of pondering before giving her next chaotic idea with shining eyes.

“Then should we cause a big enough ruckus? Should we get the High Temple’s attention?”

“They will take away the Ladybug earrings and Cat Ring. Those are our only chance to get home.”

“Not if we steal them first.”, Canterella gazed at him earnestly.

Syon looked at her with worried eyes. She’d get hurt, maybe killed. He wasn’t sure exactly how far the High Temple would be willing to go right now, but he didn’t plan to risk it. He didn’t plan to risk _her_.

But if he wanted to save her then she needed to be aware that she had to be saved.

“It’s her fault. You know it is.”, Syon said. “We could have made it home easily if not for her.”

“We aren’t talking about her.”, she snarled and stood up like she’d been burned. In her haste, she’d forgotten where she stood and she tilted to meet the groundless space next to her.

Syon reflexively reached out to her as her fingers grabbed for his wrist. It didn’t take forever to catch her arm and pull her to safety, and when they stood next to each other he didn’t bother to ask her if she was okay. This was the girl who’d jumped into a gun fight and come out alive.

Of course, the three broken ribs, cracked tibia and gun wounds hadn’t been something to be proud of, but he knew she would jump into danger because she liked it. Because her mother told her that she liked it.

“We are going to have to talk about it.” he checked over her, turning her around to make sure she hadn’t managed to hurt herself in some way. “We wouldn’t be here, with a timer and guarantee of a painful death if not for her.” _If not for your mother._

“I want to stay. I can finally make her see reason.” Canterella seethed but stuck to the shadows of the Eiffel tower as she pulled out of his gentle hold.

“She doesn’t care Canterella.”, Syon said softly. “And we can’t stay, you know we can’t.”

  
The green eyed girl lowered her eyes. She knew he was right, but she wanted to try. She always wanted to try. The Parisian summer wind was warm and welcoming. The scent of flowers lightly coated every rustle of the breeze.

It brought back old memories, good memories.

“I’m sorry.”, Canterella conceded, surprisingly. “I know you’re worried for me. I just….I hate her, but I want her attention. Why won’t she acknowledge me? Why did she throw me away?”

Maybe she was hiding how scared she was. With no way to return home except for the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous, she would be worried. They were both far away from home, the farthest one could ever get from home, from familiarity, from comfort.

Syon simply put his arm around her in a half and she closed her eyes as she tried to make her tears disappear. He closed his eyes as a tremor snaked through his body, a mild irritation that would slowly progress into unbearable pain. A sign that they truly were not meant to be here and their time was running out.

Syon felt his partner vibrate beside him and knew she was going through the same thing. When he opened his eyes, a few second later, the after effects were gone. He looked at the moon with determination burning in his gaze.

He’d get them both back home safely, no matter what.

Canterella put her head on his shoulder. He shifted closer and they watched the Parisian night together.

~*~

The underground Ritual Room was a vast chamber with seven doors. The entire room was stonework and woodwork, shaped like an upside-down flat-base tear drop.

The floor was an artwork of gold carved glyphs and symbols, it expanded in arcs and circles. Dead centre to all the concurrent circles, was a shiny red circle, upon which a metallic, stepped cuboid had been placed. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a pyramid which had been cut halfway up and then hollowed out as a square.

The Dragon Miraculous wielder looked up towards the ceiling and held back a gasp when she saw the glass window above. Without light it would be impossible for anyone to see it, only her Miraculous granted her better lighting. To Shinryu, it seemed like a waste to put such beautiful looking artwork if it wasn’t going to be seen properly.

Her eyes saw in the darkness and allowed her to see every detail of the glasswork above her, and surely Chat Noir saw it as well, but none of the rest could see it.

“It’s beautiful.”, she whispered too softly for any normal person to pick up.

Chat Noir sent her a smile that showed he agreed and although he was the farthest, Viperion looked at her as though he’d heard her. He lifted his gaze to look at the ceiling but his expression showed he couldn’t see the glasswork with the limited light there was. Shinryu noted that it must have been because only he and Chat Noir had superior hearing while only she and Chat Noir had superior eye-sight.

“That must be where the glasswork is.”, Ladybug said as she reached next to her and peered up at where the glasswork was.

Bunnyx and Alicorn looked up but didn’t see anything.

“There’s something up there?”, Bunnyx asked.

“A glass window.”, Ladybug responded before turning to look at the entire chamber.

Right above the door they had entered was a raised podium, two staircases lead up to it from either side. Shinryu glanced at the arched doors that surrounded the room. Six of them where placed farther from the door they had just entered through. Each door was violet, gold and black and glimmered in the little candlelight there was. Each had a symbol boldly carved on it.

“So the Eclipse is in half an hour, what do we do?”, Chat Noir said glancing at Marianne,

“Firstly, as the Guardian of this Temple, I shall be the one to use the tunema.”, Marianne put up her hand towards Ladybug as though she expected something.

Ladybug took out a tube like structure from her yoyo and handed it over to the elder Woman. Marianne took it and continued, “The ones here for the upgrade take their positions around the Havan and-”

“The what?”, Alicorn asked.

Marianne gave her a disapproving look for interrupting her before nodding towards the weird item that looked like a pyramid. “The Havan. It is used in ceremonies of prayer in Hinduism. The closest description I can give is that it is an Indian equivalent of a cauldron, thought it wouldn’t be entirely correct. Things are burnt in it, not boiled.”

“This must have been the special instrument needed.”, Ladybug stepped near the object and looked into it.

“Anyways, as I was saying, the four who are getting the upgrade must stand around the Havan and perform the ceremony.”

“When the eclipse starts the doors shall open and you shall each enter one alone. The two holders you have trusted,”, Marianne nodded at Bunnyx and Alicorn, “-will stand on the seventh point of this circle, right in front of the main door. Right Here.”, Marianne tapped on the spot she was standing on with her walking stick.

A design was etched onto the floor in continuum with the rest of the markings on the floor.

“You four might take hours in there, or minutes. It is unsure as to how long this shall take. I hope you all know that your heart is what shall be tested and there always something to sacrifice.”, Mister Fu looked around at Shinryu and then each of the three others in turn.

“We’re ready.”, Ladybug said.

“Then you should start.”, Mister Fu nodded.

“Wait a second. What the point of the glass window, if we can’t see it?”, Chat asked.

Mister Fu smiled and ambled towards a lever on the wall. He smiled mischievously with his hands posed to bring it down. “Who said you can’t see it?”

For an old man who looked like he was just a decade away from death, he managed to pull the old looking lever quite well. As he did so, a few clicks resounded in the underground room before suddenly the glass window above was glimmering. There was light behind it, causing the ancient colours to glow.

Everyone gasped in surprise ta the beautiful sight. Pink, red, blue, green, violet, yellow and many more colours splayed out on the glasswork above them.

“How?”, Ladybug asked in wonder.

“There are inbuilt mirrors and glass in the walls that pass on the light and magnify it. It directs the light directly behind the glass window above. All Temples hold a connection to any one differing place in the world. This is the Tibetan temple’s.”, Marianne said.

“It’s beautiful.”, Ladybug said.

“You can look at it all night some other time, the moon shall have enough light for a few days. I’d suggest beginning the ritual now, before you lose time. Considering the fact that this will be your first time, I do think you will need more time in case you make any mistakes.”, Marianne said and gestured towards the Havan and gold circle engraved on the floor.

Shinryu, stood in her spot along with the Viperion, Ladybug and Chat Noir. Ladybug stood close to the Havan.

She placed a few different ingredients into the havan and then lit them on fire.

“What we have to do is simple. Marinanne will be taking the role of Guardian of this Temple. Every time Mister Fu puts in a new ingredient we must say ‘Om’ and not stop till he puts the next ingredient.”

“The idea is to be at peace. I shall be doing the hard work of chanting the blessings of the previous wielders. It’s you duty to become one with your Miraculous.”, Marianne said as she stood behind Ladybug, opposite to Bunnyx and Alicorn, who waited behind Chat Noir.

“Alright then. We’ll start.”, Ladybug said and Master Fu put in the first ingredient into the fire in the havan.

Marianne started to chant in steady sweet voice. It sounded pleasant and comforting yet every syllable felt daunting to the Dragon Wielder.

The Japanese woman had just seated herself when she had to start humming ‘Om’. Shinryu had meditation as a part of her daily life, she was used to breathing this way and didn’t hesitate. A soft smile played on her lips as she heard the rest of the three say ‘om’ as well. Their voices were more like hums and hers was the loudest, only close to being bested by Viperion. Their voices took centre stage, while Ladybug and Chat Noir struggled to find enough confidence.

Master Fu added another ingredient and they started once again, this time with more confidence. The entire chamber started to silently hum with their sure voices.

The fire’s smoke started getting into her nose and Shinryu smelled the wood and unknown ingredients. Weirdly enough, the smoke didn’t leave her breathless or irritate her throat.

With every new ingredient their voices seemed to harmonize and the chamber started to echo back. Her voice was reminiscent of lightening, low and warm, every tone a consistent breath of air. Chat Noir voice was like a sky, high, changing and excited. Ladybug’s was like light rain, smooth and soft yet lacking consistency. Viperion’s voice was like a mountain, low, rumbling and constant, it was the voice of a singer.

Another ingredient went in, and the smell of the smoke changed to something floral.

By the time Master Fu had reduced the pile of ingredients next to him to 1/4th of their former amount he Havan was bellowing foggy whitish blue smoke, which poured out of the container and spilled onto the floor. The chamber started to echo back their hums even louder and Marianne’s voice was slowly drowning in it.

Master Fu added one more ingredient and the foggy that came out was white and violet. It started to rise above and glimmer in the moonlight streaming through the glass window above.

When Shinryu started to say ‘Om’ one more time the Chamber resonated with their voices and started to vibrate. Shinryu felt the collective effort of the team’s work gently massaging her body, running through it in delicate waves.

The resonating sounds got louder as they hummed and soon enough the chamber was vibrating with much more vigour than her throat. Marianne started to speak louder and her words changed to something more mystic. Then Master Fu stood up and put in the last ingredient just as Marianne’s voice reached a high note that Shinryu would have thought impossible for the old woman.

The Chamber shook like it was the epicentre of an earthquake and the smoke in the Havan exploded in a giant cloud. Shinryu closed her eyes out of instinct, her last hum lay forgotten in her mouth.

When she opened her eyes she breathed in surprise. The entire chamber was filled with white smoke on the ceiling and floor. The moonlight that streamed in touched the smoke and then scattered into rays of silver light. The slowly, a darkness fell upon them all and the silvery light turned golden. At the same time, the entire chamber became warmer.

  
“The Eclipse has begun.”, Master Fu said.

“You may all get up now.”, Marianne ushered them to come towards her.

They all got up as one and looked around the huge room with wonder. The scene was magical.   
“Now all of you must enter the door that calls to you the most.”, Marianne gestured towards the old ornate doors on the other side of the room.

“By Calls to you, do you mean the feelings of only wanting to look at one specific door?”, Chat Noir asked his eyes locked on the centre left door.

“Could be.”, Marianne said.

“And what do we do then?”, Viperion asked.

“You will know when you step in.”, Master Fu spoke up as he ambled to Marianne’s side.

“And what do we do?”, Alicorn said from Bunny’x side. The both of them had not moved from their position.

“We wait on the balcony for them. I shall inform you of what is needed to be done once the rest have gone past the doors.”

“Alright then.”

Shinryu turned towards the doors in front of her. From the corner of her eyes she saw the rest do the same. Ladybug walked towards the door and stooped infront of one. This had a weird symbol like a circle engraved on it. The dragon miraculous wielder gasped as the door in front of the veteran heroine swung open. She heard similar gasps from the rest in the room.

Viperion slowly walked over to the one in the far right while Chat Noir walked to the one next to his partner. Shinryu’s own feet took her to the two doors to the left. After a moment of contemplation she chose the left most one.

The door swung open for her too and she took one look at the rest of the heroes in front of the doors, her eyes wandered to look behind. By happenstance she caught Alicorn’s gaze. The horse miraculous wielder gave her a nod before walking towards the inner balcony.

Shinryu was reminded of Chloe bourgeois but shook her head and turned back towards the door in front of her. Beyond the door, the room looked like silvery fog and cut her vision to two feet.

She took a deep breath and stepped in. The room beyond greeted her like snowfall and deception.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tan Legend  
> over and out~


End file.
